David Drummond is a Professional Vocal Coach - with seventeen years on the vocal faculties of both the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London.
As a conductor and chorus master he has been involved in over 120 performances of opera in major opera houses, and has spent his life working with singers, including artists such as Maria Ewing and Sir Thomas Allen, with many recitals of lieder, song and folk music.
He began the piano at age four and was a choirboy for three years so is well-versed in the English choral tradition. He also learned violin, viola and organ and went on to complete a B. Mus Degree at Edinburgh University, studying composition with Kenneth Leighton, before undertaking a Postgraduate Conducting Diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music.
At the RNCM he formed a Contemporary Music Ensemble, and has always enjoyed working with living composers, having commissioned and curated many première performances, including the British Première of Aulis Sallinnen’s opera Kullervo attended by the composer.
In addition to classical music he has directed musicals, arranged and conducted a rock oratorio and worked in the field of popular music, most prestigiously in live concerts at Abbey Road, and the BBC Electric Proms, with Robert Plant and his Band of Joy. This and four decades of conducting and analysing scores in all genres, leaves him well placed to help singers gain a deeper understanding of whatever their current repertoire.
David is passionate about the importance of language, of really understanding your material and communicating it clearly. He studied French at school; German at the Goethe Institute – in Germany and London; Italian at the Istituto Europeo - in Florence; and is also acquainted with Swedish and Russian - having been Chorus Master in Gothenburg for two years and twice Guest Conductor in Kharkov, Ukraine. He also translated one of Denmark’s most popular operas (Drot og Marsk) into English for a British Première with University College London.
Vocal knowledge is important for a coach and David spent several years in the teaching studio of the revered singing teacher Janice Chapman working as accompanist whilst she was writing her seminal book about singing pedagogy – “Teaching Singing”. He also attended Vocal Anatomy classes with Merribeth Bunch Dayme and an Estill Voice Craft course.
A final vital element to any singer’s performance is presentation and David is an experienced leader and presenter. Invited to take part in two Ted Talks at Houses of Parliament, he has also led summer opera schools for the mentally handicapped and conducted children’s Educational Concerts in Sweden and with the London Mozart Players. As a violinist he has occupied the Concertmeister’s chair in several orchestras, and in film he not only conducted the theme music for the Sydney 2000 Olympics with the BBC Concert Orchestra, but “Dangerous Music” - a documentary made while he was conductor of the Somerset Youth Orchestra - won an Emmy Award. He is therefore well-equipped in identifying how to represent your best self for audition or performance.