David Allen is a music composer and professional musician, specialising in writing music for film and the theatre, as well as works for concert halls and choirs. He is also frequently in demand as an organist, pianist and musical director throughout the United Kingdom.
Latest News
David is working on a number of different projects at the moment having recently completed the original scores for Shiverman, a piece of new writing by James Sheldon and directed by Tom Littler at London’s Theatre 503, and Churchill’s Children by Lita Doolan at the Brighton Fringe. He is also working on two feature films, details of which will be posted here once they are available.
Alongside this work David is updating his demo reel to include cues from his latest film and theatre projects. If you are interested in David’s work as a composer and would like to hear some more samples then do get in touch and he can keep you updated on the progress of the final tracks. Alternatively you can listen to David’s current demos on the media page and contact him if you would like further examples of his work.
Recent Work
Before Christmas David was working on a production of Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons in the historic and atmospheric church of St Mary the Virgin, the University Church at Oxford University. Earlier in the year he composed the original scores for Antigone at London’s Southwark Playhouse – a critically acclaimed production that brought the classical tragedy fully up to date with a setting based in the heart of the Arab Spring – and also for a brand new interpretation of August Strindberg’s surrealist masterpiece A Dream Play at the Oxford Playhouse.
These productions tackled very different issues and traditions and so required completely different styles of music. For Antigone David wrote a post-modern ethnic-influenced score that combined traditional Middle Eastern music with Western musical forms and modernist harmonies, with a live on-stage Chorus singing and dancing alongside pre-recorded sampled instruments that created a stark juxtaposition of realism and expressionism symbolising the political tension.
In contrast, the score for A Dream Play was written for a large orchestra and performed live, containing a vast range of musical styles that ranged from Viennese waltzes through to grand romantic overtures, as well as luscious Hollywood underscore and modernist synthesised washes.
Also, in the autumn of 2010 David wrote the score for a production of T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral in the atmospheric Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. In association with the Oxford Playhouse, the production was hailed as one of the highlights of the theatre season, featuring a chorus of 11-woman, a 14-piece orchestra and the mighty cathedral organ.
Contact David
If you want to get in touch for more information about David’s work or to discuss a possible opportunity for him then please use this page to contact David Allen.