David Raphael Scott (1962) was born in Leigh-on-Sea, England and moved to Îll-a-la-crosse, Saskatchewan as a child. He grew up in Saskatoon where he developed an enduring interest in music, initially through folk, jazz and rock music, playing a the full range of instruments associated with those genres.
David’s academic composition studies began in his 20’s and he has been flailing around in the arts every since. He has showcased his work with professional ensembles and soloists in Canada, the United States, the former Soviet Union, and Europe, including Iceland. David has also worked directly with young people on collaborative creative music projects, given master-classes and taught theory, history and composition at all levels—from grade school through graduate school. He worked for a number of years as a freelance music producer at CBC, taught at the Universities of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Canadian Mennonite and Brandon, spent 15 years in public arts funding at the Manitoba Arts Council and was Executive Director of both the Manitoba Composers Association and GroundSwell.
Selected performances and commissions include those by the symphony orchestras of Victoria, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Hamilton, and Toronto; the Agassiz, Cassatt, Ironwood, Molinari, Penderecki, and St. Lawrence string quartets; the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, GroundSwell, the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, Brandon Chamber Players, Winnipeg Youth Symphony, Arraymusic, Duo Concertante, Tapestry New Opera, the Hammerhead Consort, Winnipeg Singers, Esprit de Choeur, and Prairie Voices.
David has been fortunate to receive support for his work through grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, CBC Radio Music, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and DuMaurier Arts. He studied composition with two of Canada’s most distinguished senior composers, Robert Turner and Violet Archer. David has also studied composition with Michael Matthews, Alfred Fisher, Stephen Chatman, Keith Hamel, and orchestration with Malcolm Forsyth. As a young composer, he earned prizes from BMI (New York), SOCAN (Toronto), and Music Inter Alia (Winnipeg). He is a member of the Canadian League of Composers, an Associate of the Canadian Music Centre and was one of the Artistic Directors of GroundSwell from 2001-2008. David has degrees from the Universities of Manitoba and Alberta and received his Doctorate from the University of British Columbia in 2000.
David has an enduring interest in developing his skills in the other arts, including: painting, drawing and woodworking–particularly turning, marquetry and traditional joinery. These explorations into the plastic arts help inform his music and vice versa. David’s entire catalogue of c. 65 concert works is housed in the music libraries of the universities of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon), Manitoba, Brandon and Canadian Mennonite (Winnipeg). Selected works are also available for rental or loan from the Canadian Music Centre.
David R. Scott is married to Laurel Howard, violist, teacher, administrator and birder. They have two children who are versatile professional musicians: Zander Howard-Scott and Elena Howard-Scott. He lives and works in the lakeside-community of Dunnottar and riverside-community of Winnipeg, both of which are on Treaty 1 Territory.