Dr. David Salisbury Biography

David is a graduate from Berklee College of Music in Boston USA. He graduated with honours (Cum Laude) with a degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging.  David studied for two years at the Boston Conservatory of music as a composition and saxophone student studying with Chris Roze and Larry Thomas Bell, both Julliard graduates, for composition as well as Hugo Norden for counterpoint, John Adams for harmony and Pasquale Principe for saxophone and clarinet.

His classical music interest goes back to his earliest days as a young musician growing up the Los Angeles area and continued with his studies in composition at the Boston Conservatory of Music.  A songwriter, composer, and arranger since 1969 with over 200 songs and compositions to his credit registered with the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA).  David has performed with orchestras and ensembles including the Metropolitan Wind Symphony (Boston), Oregon Shakespearean Festival and the Boston Theatre Workshop and the Barrier Reef Orchestra. Additional performing and compositional experience include dance companies such as the Oregon Dance Theatre, the Boston Theatre Works and various musical theatre performances and live venues throughout the United States and Australia.

David was recently granted Associate Artist status with the Australian Music Centre (AMC) and is a member of the Music Arrangers Guild of Australia (MAGA).  David’s classical compositions have been performed at the Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music.  His Flute Quartet (flute and string trio) Townsville Views and Suite Brolga were performed in conjunction with the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, with William Barton on Didgeridoo and Timothy Constable on Tuned Percussion (see attached review).  In addition, his compositions have been performed at the Joan Sutherland Performing Art Centre in Sydney, Australia and the Civic Theatre and Queens Garden in Townsville, Australia.

David has a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from San Diego State University and a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of New England which influences his compositions with a world music perspective and approach to rhythm, metre, and modality.  He often employs George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic theoretical approach to the harmonic structure of a composition.