David Lancaster is a composer whose work has been performed, recorded and broadcast internationally. Originally from Wigan (Lancashire, UK), David began his musical career on trumpet before studying music at York and Cambridge universities. From 1985-88 he was RVW Composer-in-Residence at Charterhouse. As a young composer he gained several important awards including the Lloyds Bank Young Composer Award, Michael Tippett Award, LCM Centenary Prize and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival Composer Award; his music was performed by Kronos Quartet, Lontano, Electric Phoenix, Nancy Ruffer, Alexander Baillie and others. Following an extended silence David returned to composing in 2007. In recent years his music has been subject to a dramatic simplification of style in a search for greater clarity of form and expression. He is particularly interested in narrative forms and especially in applying cinematographic techniques (such as montage) into his music. Many of his pieces explore ideas drawn from medieval art, literature or craftsmanship, bringing the past into the present and investigating the legacies of men and women who lived in this place a thousand years ago. David enjoys collaborative projects with poets, film makers, choreographers and performers. In November 2013 Strata was given its first performance by the Orchestra of Opera North; it was subsequently recorded for CD by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra (under Mikel Toms) in June 2015. In 2016 David’s large-scale choral work Apocalypse - which tells of the world’s end, as depicted in York’s medieval stained glass - was performed in Copenhagen and broadcast by the Danish Radio Vocal Ensemble conducted by Robert Hollingworth. Also that year, David’s violin solo Rough Cut was published by UYMP and received its first London performance given by Peter Sheppard-Skaerved, the piano trio Hiraeth and brass quintet Breathless were premiered and Juice Vocal Ensemble first presented Confound Winter (and subsequently recorded it for their Snow Queens CD). 2017 saw the first American performance of Fallen and the premiere of The Dark Gate, a song cycle for Peyee Chen and Kate Ledger based on the words of David Vogel who perished at Auschwitz in 1944; Gentle (for soprano and marimba) was released on CD by PercusSing. In March 2018 the Delta Saxophone Quartet released a new recording of Swan. In 2018 David completed a large-scale collaborative project with poet Abi Curtis (performed in July amongst the extensive medieval wall paintings in Pickering Church which inspired them) and composed ‘Of Trumpets and Angels’ - a major choral/orchestral setting of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets for the Oxford Harmonic Choir, which was first performed in June 2019. In 2020 David has completed a new work for flute, viola and harp for The Trilogy Ensemble, and ‘Eclipse’ for Harrogate international Festival, recorded remotely by brass players all around the world and broadcast online. During the national lockdown (UK) he composed ‘Angelus’ for pianist Duncan Honeybourne, now released on CD. 2021 saw the first performances of 'Feathers' for SATB chorus, in York and London, given by the Elysian Singers who subsequently recorded it for CD. In 2022 Ex Corde Vocal ensemble gave the first performance of 'At the Edge of the World', a collaboration with Prof. Abi Curtis, exploring the life and visions of anchoress Emma Raughton; the performance took place in All Saints Church in York where Emma Raughton lived in solitary isolation.This work, and 'Apocalypse' (based on stained glass from the same church) were recorded for CD and issued on the Resonus Classics label in 2023. Also that year 'Canzone Sospesa' for cello and piano was performed in Teatro dal Verme, Milan, Italy by members of the Trio Chimera (Giorgio Lucchini and Marta Ceretta) and Mon Seul Desir - for soprano, harp, narrator and electronics, based on the 'Lady and Unicorn' tapestries received its first performance in York, given by by Sarah-Jane Gibson (soprano), Rachel Davies (harp) and Emily Rowan (narrator). Current projects include an extended piano solo for Matthew Schellhorn, and a musical theatre project based on the medieval poem 'The Perle'. In 2016 David Lancaster completed PhD in Composition at the University of York, supervised by Professor Roger Marsh. He is Associate Professor of Composition at York St John University and is a Director of York’s Late Music concert series. His music is published by UYMP.