David Ponsford
Email: DSPonsford@aol.com
Website: www.DavidPonsford.org
Dr David Ponsford won an exhibition to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, studied organ with Peter Hurford, Lionel Rogg and Piet Kee, and was awarded an Arts Council scholarship to study harpsichord with Kenneth Gilbert and Gustav Leonhardt. He began his career as Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral, subsequently becoming Conductor of Cheltenham Bach Choir where he directed many performances of major choral works by J. S. Bach, Handel and Monteverdi. More recently he held a Research Studentship at Cardiff University where he was awarded a Ph.D. for his dissertation on performance practice in French Baroque organ music under the supervision of Professor Peter Williams. Currently he holds a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to write a book on the subject for Cambridge University Press.
During J. S. Bach's anniversary year (2000) he recorded of all four parts of J. S. Bach's Clavierübung on the organ and harpsichord, including the six Partitas, the Lutheran organ cycle and the Goldberg Variations, for CD. Since then he has recorded Parthenia (music by Byrd, Bull and Gibbons,1612) for Riverrun Records, three CDs of the complete J. S. Bach violin sonatas with Jacqueline Ross for ASV, and a recording of the historic c.1670/1775 organ in Dingestow Court. He currently holds the post of Associate Lecturer in Music at Cardiff University, and has been appointed Conductor of Cardiff University Chamber Orchestra. He has also given lectures at Bristol, Edinburgh and Queen's Belfast Universities and is a part-time lecturer at Cambridge University Department of Continuing Education.
'What one hears is a kaleidoscope of sound which combines virtuoso brilliance with scholarship' (Musical Opinion). This review of David Ponsford's first solo recording has been a hallmark of his performances throughout his career. As an organist, harpsichordist and conductor, he has travelled all over Europe, to America and to the Far East. His solo recordings for harpsichord and organ have been acclaimed, and he is regarded as one of the foremost experts in the performance practice of Baroque music, matching skills as a performer with those of a scholar.