David Walter composer / arranger

Born in Paris in 1958, David Walter has pursued an original career. After obtaining First Prize in oboe and chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (Paris Conservatoire), he quickly gained recognition outside of France by winning five international prizes one after the other in Ancona, Prague, Munich, Belgrade and Geneva. Despite this impressive record, he did not choose to pursue a solo career (he turned down John Eliot Gardiner's offer to become principal oboe of the Lyons Opera, for example) and has preferred to focus on chamber music and teaching, which he deems richer in human values.

His chamber music activities include first and foremost playing with the Quintette Moragues, of which he is a founding member (1980) : together they have won the Grand Prize of the Nouvelle Académie du Disque and were nominated for the first Victoires de la Musique Classique. His other partners include S. Richter, C. Zacharias, M. Dalberto, P. Rogé, A. Planès, G. Nicolic, M.A. Nicolas, C.M. Le Guay, and the Sine Nomine, Endellion, Manfred and Parisii string quartets.

David Walter was only 29 years old when, owing to his enthusiasm and dedication to teaching, he was appointed the youngest-ever oboe and chamber music professor at the renowned Paris Conservatoire. He has taught at the Guildhall School since 1997, and regularly gives numerous masterclasses all over the world.

In an attempt to enrich the relatively limited oboe repertoire, Mr. Walter has proved himself a tireless and authoritative transcriber : to date he has made more than 230 arrangements, many of which are now well known. He also encourages new works by young composers such as Gilles Raynal or Thierry Escaiche, and is himself a composer (14 works to date).

David Walter's experience of group performance has led him naturally to conduct small orchestras and ensembles such as the Bretagne Orchestra or the Bourgogne Camerata.

Lastly, he also is the artistic director of two collections with the music publisher Billaudot, and contributes also the recently founded Notissimo publishing company.