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Date of Birth: 19th December, 1952 (Sutton Coldfield, UK)

David Stanhope is a freelance conductor and composer. He joined the music staff of Australian Opera in 1986 and during that time conducted seasons of Albert Herring, Turn Of the Screw, and Les Pêcheurs De Perles. Recent engagements with the Australian Opera and the State Opera of South Australia have included the Australian stage premiere season of Berg’s Lulu, the Sydney and Melbourne permieres of Janacek’s The Makropulos Secret, as well as seasons of Peter Grimes, Hansel and Gretel, Salome, Ariadne Auf Naxos, Eugene Onegin, La Traviata, Jenufa, and Fidelio. He is a guest conductor and recording artist for the ABC and Symphony Australia, including CDs, concerts and engagements with the Sydney, Melbourne, West Australian, Queensland, Adelaide, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. He is also a regular guest conductor with Australia’s leading contemporary group, Sydney Alpha Ensemble, and the Australian Ballet, with whom he has conducted seasons of The Rite of Spring.

David has conducted the soundtracks of Babe, Children of the Revolution, Paradise Road, and Passion. For the last-named film he also recorded all the solo piano repertoire for the film and is the hand ‘double’ for Richard Roxburgh.

He has written numerous compositions for all kinds of instrumental and vocal ensembles, but is especially known as a writer for wind band and brass. He won the ensemble section of the International Horn Society Composition Contest in 1979 with a horn octet. Wind band and brass band works of his have been competition test pieces both in Britain and Australia. His most recent compositions include several items commissioned for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, a Symphony for wind band, the suite for string orchestra, String Songs, and E.G.B.D.S. for wind band. Stanhope’s principal publisher is Southern Music Company in San Antonio, Texas. Other publishers of his works including Novello & Co, and The Hornists’ Nest. Tall Poppies have released a CD of his wind band music, entitled Little Ripper in 1997.

David Stanhope played french horn for several years, mostly as a freelance. He was a member of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra before working in London and has been based in Sydney since 1979. In 1984 he changed instrument to bass trombone, freelancing with the Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.

As a pianist, he has made recordings with EMI, and in 1980 undertook a concerto tour for the ABC. Tall Poppies have released two CDs - Virtuoso Transcriptions in 1996, and David Stanhope Plays in 1999.

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Biography provided by the composer