Creative Team

Composer / Musical Director / ArrangerDavid White

David White is one of the leading musical directors/arrangers in the UK, graduating from Christ Church, Oxford and making his debut performance on Broadway at the age of 23. During this time he was spotted by Cameron Mackintosh, who offered him the position of Musical Director on the world’s most successful musical, Les Misérables.

David has remained at the top of his profession ever since and has been a favourite choice amongst many of the world’s finest directors and choreographers. He is currently Musical Supervisor for Varmlandsoperan, Karlstad in Vernon Mound’s new production of Bernstein’s Candide. 

His recent highlights include conducting Trevor Nunn's highly-acclaimed new version of The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at the Savoy Theatre, writing and arranging music for the new performing versions of My Fair Lady (Olivier Award for Best Musical) and South Pacific (National Theatre), both with Trevor Nunn and Matthew Bourne, as well as working with Gale Edwards (The Far Pavilions), Declan Donellan (Martin Guerre), Chris Renshaw (Zorro) and Stephen Mears (The Witches Of Eastwick). His breadth of knowledge and understanding of composition means he is in constant demand on the world premieres of large-scale new works by many writers, including Andrew Lloyd Webber (Sunset Boulevard) and Claude-Michel Schoenberg.

In particular his association with Les Misérables both in its original home at the Palace Theatre as well as many foreign productions, led musician Claude-Michel Schoenberg to invite David to create a definitive performing edition. With this version, David took an Anglo-American company starring Colm Wilkinson to China, where he conducted a short season of Les Misérables (Grand Theatre, Shanghai). This was the first visit of its kind and the subject of a powerful documentary by Omnibus. One of the many challenges, included an orchestra that was half-American and half-Chinese, with the only shared language between them being Italian musical terms and the language of music itself!

David is currently composing with Kuljit Bhamra. Together they have formed The Ku-Da-Mix Orchestra - an Arts Council-backed initiative that consists of a unique and vibrant combination of instruments from all over the globe, playing music they are writing specifically to create a new kind of orchestral sound. Following an extraordinarily successful launch at Scala, Kings Cross, The Ku-Da-Mix Orchestra was invited to play a key role in the reopening ceremonies of The Royal Festival Hall in June. Future plans include a tour of Britain in 2008/9.

David’s pioneering work in acting-through-voice has led him to create some of the world’s finest musical theatre ensembles, as well as being a trusted collaborator and guide to many of the world’s top musical theatre stars – including Patti LuPone, Clark Peters, Philip Quast, Jonathan Pryce, Martine McCutcheon, Elaine Paige, Betty Buckley, Petula Clark,  and Alex Jennings.

David  composed the music for Cordelia, a one-woman Musical Play written by Stephen Clark (National Theatre Studio) and co-conceived with Matthew Ryan Philip Quast’s Entertainment (Donmar Warehouse) with Jason Robert Brown. His concert work includes large-scale concerts (Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Misérables, Chess) with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

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