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Faculty of Music

 
 David  Roche

Roles

PhD student

Biography

David Roche is a composer, he writes music in many different styles for many different purposes, his music has been televised and broadcast nationally and internationally, and his compositions have been described as 'touching', 'wonderful', and 'the highlight of the evening'. In 2016 his orchestral work Ozartmay, described as 'exhilarating', will be performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as part of Composition Wales : 2016. His music has also been performed by Britten Sinfonia, BBC Singers, the Carducci Quartet, the Galliard Ensemble, Notes Inegales, Ensemble Isis, Richard Casey, and many others. Recent commissions have come from Cambridge University Communications Department (nine pieces of music in total), the British Library (two commissions), Centre of the Cell (five commissions), and private classical music enthusiasts - these are aside from numerous requests for compositions. In 2011 he composed and conducted his first opera. 

David studied Music at Cardiff University receiving First Class Honours, four Cardiff University Scholarships including two consecutive awards for ‘best academic performance’, and the Morfydd Owen Prize for ‘exceptional academic performance’. His compositional development continued at Brasenose College, University of Oxford, where he was the runner up for the inaugural Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Scholarship and received an AHRC Studentship covering all the expenses associated with the Mst in Music Composition - his essay Cultural Rootlessness in the Music of Unsuk Chin was kept as an example of ‘exceptional academic work’. He also received a HCR Service Award for his 'contribution to postgraduate life'. David is the first person to read for a PhD in Music Composition at University of Cambridge and in 2014 he was shortlisted for an Arts Council of Wales Advanced Study Scholarship.

 
He is reading for a PhD in Music Composition; Richard Causton is his supervisor.