David Halls - Director of Music
David Halls was born in 1963 and was taught the piano and cello from the age of four. Whilst a pupil at Harrogate Grammar School, he was assistant Organist at St. Wilfrid's Harrowgate, studied the organ with Ronald Perrin at Ripon Cathedral and later with Thomas Trotter in London.
David won an Organ Scholarship to Worcester College, Oxford and graduated in 1984 with an Honours Degree in Music. He passed both the Associate and Fellowship Examinations of The Royal College of Organists in the same year, being awarded five prizes and the Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
He studied in Winchester for a post-graduate Certificate in Education and was Organ Scholar of Winchester Cathedral under the guidance of Martin Neary and James Lancelot.
In September 1985 he was appointed Assistant Organist of Salisbury Cathedral and Director of Music of Salisbury Cathedral School. In addition to his daily duties in the cathedral, he has toured France, Holland and the USA with the cathedral choirs and has appeared as conductor, accompanist and soloist in many concerts and recordings. In demand as a recitalist, he has recorded two solo CD's on the Willis Organ in Salisbury Cathedral. He is also active as a composer and has choral works published in the UK and USA. He regularly plays harpsichord for the Sarum Chamber Orchestra and has deputised for David Hill by taking rehearsals of the Bach Choir. In September 2000 he took up the new full-time post of Organist and Assistant Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral.
He is a member of the Salisbury Diocesan Choral Festival Group, regularly conducting Diocesan Choir Festivals, and he is an Organ Consultant to the Diocese of Salisbury. He conducts the Salisbury Musical Society and the Salisbury Orchestral Society. Recent works conducted include Britten's St. Nicolas, Noye's Fludde (recorded for BBC TV) and The Burning Fiery Furnace, Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, Poulenc's Stabat Mater, Elgar's Sea Pictures and Holst's The Planets and forthcoming work includes Dvorak's Stabat Mater and Bruckner's Symphony No. 4.
Click here for David Halls' compositions.