David Irving
David Irving (leader) was born in Adelaide, grew up on Australia's Gold Coast, and studied violin and musicology at the Queensland Conservatorium and University of Queensland. Interested in historical performance from an early age, he began to play baroque violin when he was sixteen; more formal study followed later under the guidance of Lucinda Moon and Alice Evans, and in 2001 he joined the ranks of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Since moving to the UK, he has taken lessons from Pavlo Beznosiuk, Margaret Faultless, and Catherine Mackintosh, and has worked regularly with period-instrument ensembles including the Hanover Band, the Gabrieli Consort & Players, La Serenissima, the Early Opera Company, St James's Baroque Players, and La Compañía Musical (Spain). He is also active as a recitalist, collaborating chiefly with organist and harpsichordist James McVinnie. David has just completed his PhD dissertation ('Colonial musical culture in early modern Manila') at Clare College, under the supervision of Dr Tess Knighton. He has published widely on the role of music in intercultural exchange during the early modern period; his articles have appeared in journals including Early Music, Eighteenth-Century Music, and Anuario Musical, as well as in various essay collections. He has been elected to a Junior Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge, starting in October 2007.