An account of David’s artistic life.

David’s career in music began 75 years ago, when, as a 9 year old his parents sent him to the Cork School of Music to learn violin playing and the theory and harmony of music. Eventually David gained a place in the school’s Symphony Orchestra.

After a decade, David left school on attaining employment. Following night studies and discovering he had developed an adult singing voice, he joined the north cathedral choir where under the tutelage of Herr Aloys Fleischmann he spent twelve years developing his voice and musical talent.

During that time, the Cork Grand Opera Society was founded. David joined and took part in a series of grand operas in the Old Opera House (until the disastrous fire of 1955) and for a number of opera seasons in the Palace Theatre. In these operas he sang in the chorus in a number of minor principal parts.

In 1958 he was asked to perform with the Gilbert & Sullivan Company with whom he played principal parts in their Savoy shows and in the major operetta shows this company performed until the early 1980’s.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s the Cork Operatic Society and the Collins Musical Society asked him to play leading parts in their musicals, in addition he also performed with other musicals societies, outside Cork.

From the commencement of his voice career, he felt the need to develop his acting and stage techniques. He did so initially under James Stack in the Cork School of Music who subsequently offered him roles in his productions with the Theatre of the South in the Fr Matthew players of the opera house as well as local shows in “the Swans” & “Summer Revels”.

During all this time he sang in concerts, weddings, and review seasons in Blackrock Castle and on two continental tours with the City of Cork Choral Shows and one trip representing Bord Failte in New Zealand.

In the early 1980’s after almost 30 years of these activities a series of events saw the end of his theatrical activities and for a short period he returned to choral singing.

In 1985 an event occurred that sent him in a totally different direction in narrating a series of opera solos produced by Barra O’ Tuama in Cork and other venues in Ireland and the UK. This continued until early in the 2000’s when on medical grounds David retired from all musical & Theatrical involvement.

Thankfully another career variation opened in broadcasting — Originally for a short spell in RTE Local Radio & Radio South (now 96fm ).

In 1990 he began broadcasting on the Cork University Hospital radio and ever since on a weekly basis he presents classical choice programme on CUH FM (102fm) and hope to continue to do so well into the future.

As a final and not a surprising note, vocally speaking he returned to his roots.

He started his singing career as a church chorister and now sings with a small church choir in West Cork.