David Heath

David Heath began writing music in 1975, basing his music harmonically and rhythmically on the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.  Heath is now regarded as one of Britain’s most original musical figures, the Gramophone recently writing of him “Heath has developed a voice and style that has developed into a genre of its own”.

Heath’s early pieces written between 1975 and 1982 “Out of the Cool”, “Rumania”, “Fight the Lion” and “Coltrane” are all modern jazz based and have been played and recorded worldwide.  In the 1980s he began to incorporate rock and studio techniques into his compositions, and by the 1990s after settling in Scotland, his music had become influenced by Celtic and natural sound.

Heath has written for several of the greatest instrumentalists of our time.  He wrote two flute concertos for James Galway “Free the Spirit”, “Heaven and Earth” and a major percussion concerto for Evelyn Glennie, “African Sunrise-Manhattan Rave”.  The percussion concerto was subsequently recorded by Glennie and the London Philharmonic by Black Box on a highly praised disc of the same name.

His electric violin concerto for Nigel Kennedy “Alone at the Frontier” was premiered in Minneapolis in 1993.  It contained the first ever beat box choir and caused a sensation in the USA.

In 2003 his work “Sirocco” was premiered at the Barbican London by violinist Ittai Shapira, oboist John Anderson and the English Chamber Orchestra.  A highly regarded disc, “Sirocco” was subsequently released by Black Box.

In 2005 Heath had a profound religious experience about which his most recent works have been concerned.

In 2006 he wrote the score for a documentary about Daniel Pearl “The Journalist and the Jihadi” and the same year scored a ballet for choreographer Christopher Bruce and the Ballet Rambert “A Steel Garden”.   April 2007 saw the premiere of his first opera “An Everyday Occurrence”, a love affair set in the pit of an orchestra, and his major choral work “Spirit of the Truth” which was premiered at St Alban’s Abbey.

In the summer of 2007 Marin Alsop premiered his large scale orchestral work “Colourful World” in the Cabrillo festival USA.
Heath is presently writing an oboe concerto “Sahara” for world renowned oboist John Anderson and the English Chamber Orchestra, which will be premiered in the autumn of 2008.

For further information: www.dcheath.co.uk