Dr David Ponsford

Dr David Ponsford MA, PhD, FRCO, ARCM is both a scholar and a professional organist and harpsichordist, and is an authority on music of the 17th and 18th centuries. An exhibitioner at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he studied organ with Peter Hurford, Lionel Rogg and Piet Kee, and harpsichord with Kenneth Gilbert and Gustav Leonhardt.  He was awarded a PhD at Cardiff University, and for 17 years he was Associate Lecturer in Performance Practice as well as Conductor of Cardiff University Chamber Orchestra. In September 2021, he was appointed a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he teaches both organ and harpsichord continuo. His edition of Biber’s Mystery Sonatas was published by Ut Orpheus, Bologna, in 2007, and his book ‘French Organ music in the Reign of Louis XIV’ was published by Cambridge University Press in 2011 (paperback edition, 2016). In 2020 his edition of Nicolas de Grigny’s Premier livre d’orgue was published by Ut Orpheus, Bologna, and he has recently been commissioned to write three pedagogical volumes for Wayne Leupold Editions, North Carolina. In association with Nimbus Records, he has made seven recordings of French Baroque organ repertoire on historical French organs. In teaching and performing, he aims to combine executant skill with intellectual understanding, to bring the music alive with authority and meaning.