Staff Profile
Dr David Lancaster
Associate Professor of Composition
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I am a composer whose work is performed, recorded and broadcast internationally. Originally from Wigan, I began my musical life as a trumpet player, but studies at University of York and at Cambridge brought about a transition to composition specialism. I subsequently worked as Composer in Residence at Charterhouse. This was funded by the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, and as lecturer in music at Langley College in Berkshire and Amersham and Wycombe College Buckinghamshire.
I moved to the University College of Ripon and York St John, now called York St John University in 1994. In addition to my work I am a director of York's late Music concert series, and am currently Musical Director of the York Railway Institute Band.
- School – School of the Arts
- Email – d.lancaster@yorksj.ac.uk
- Phone – 01904 876 554
- Research - View my work in RaY
- Postgraduate Research Supervisor
Further information
Teaching
I teach on the following Music courses:
- Musicking
- Composition Strategies
- Advanced Composition
- Collaborative Project
- Analysis, Composition, Dissemination (MA Composition)
- Independent Project (MA Composition)
I have taught on most modules within the BA Music degree programme, although most of my teaching is now concentrated on composition modules. I lead the MA Composition programme and I supervise PhD candidates specialising in composition.
Research
My research is centred around my compositional practice. I have composed around 100 piece of original music, which are performed by soloists, ensembles, choirs and orchestras, in concerts and festivals around the world. My music has been recorded on CD and is available for online streaming. Since 2019 my sheet music has been published by University of York Music Press.
Publications and Conferences
Vanitas
For mezzo-soprano, clarinet and cello to texts by Ausonius and Georg Trakl (1984)
First performed by Katrina Makepiece-Lott and ensemble, Selwyn College, Cambridge, 1984
Echoes from a Phantom City
For flute, viola and harp (1985)
First performed by the Parke Ensemble, St James, Piccadilly
Steps Out of Time
For string orchestra and harp (1986)
First performed by the Parke Ensemble (Stuart Dunlop), St Martin in the Fields, London
Still Life with Angels
For soprano, mezzo soprano and string quartet (winner of the Michael Tippett award 1986)
First performed by Judith Rees, Linda Hirst and the Kronos Quartet, Dartington Hall, August 1986
Tower of Babel
For orchestra (1987)
First performed by the Salamon Orchestra (Nicholas Braithwaite), Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
Angel Still Silent
For mezzo soprano and chamber orchestra, setting poems by Trakl (1987)
First performed by the Parke Ensemble (Stuart Dunlop) in the October Gallery, London
Between 1988 and 1994 David Lancaster composed incidental music for professional repertory productions at the Redgrave Theatre, Farnham. Performances included scores for Glass Menagerie, Macbeth, Richard II and adaptations of Jamaica Inn and Lady Chatterley’s Lover; all Graham Watkins productions.
Lulu
Chamber opera for voices and electronics (1994)
First performed Edinburgh Fringe Festival, (Michelle Johnson, soprano) August 1994
On the Rocks
Music for dance, for live voices and electronic tape, choreography by Stuart Martin, design by Derek Hyatt (1997)
First performed Ripon Dance Studio (1997)
Bliss
For SATB chorus, based on the medieval English poem ‘Grant us the bliss to see thy face’ (1999)
First performed by massed choirs of the Church Colleges (Marilynne Davies) York Minster
Cuba!
For brass band (Winner of the Leeds University/Black Dyke award for composition) (2002)
First performed by the Black Dyke Band (Nicholas Childs), Leeds University
The Field
For SSA chorus, based on a text by Rumi (2007)
First performed by Laudamus (Deborah Catterall), Holy Trinity Church, Ripon
In Darkness…
Three songs for soprano and piano on texts from Dowland lute songs (2008)
First performed by Sarah Bowe and Keiran White, YSJU, May 2009
Mosquito
For recorded brass ensemble, in collaboration with artist Rory Macbeth (2009)
First performed at Leeds Art Gallery, February 2009
Hammer and Tongues
For small Concert Band (2008)
First performed by YSJU Concert Band (David Lancaster), YSJU, June 2009
Northern Line
For brass band (2009)
First performed by York Railway Institute Band (Derek Warley), York Theatre Royal, October 2009
Memories of Place
For baritone voice and piano, on poems by Daniela Nunnari (2009)
First performed by Paul Carey Jones, York Late Music Festival, December 2009
