David Griffiths is Senior Lecturer in Clarinet at the University of Melbourne and a member of Ensemble Liaison and the Australia Ensemble @UNSW.

Described recently in Limelight magazine as a ‘national treasure’, Ensemble Liaison gave its first concert series at the BMW Edge Theatre, Melbourne, in 2007. Since then it has gone on to become renowned for imaginative and innovative programming, and setting the trend for involving itself in brilliant collaborations with leading artists. The ensemble has performed throughout Australia and New Zealand, and in 2012 gave a series of festival performances in Central Europe. It has regularly recorded for broadcast on ABC Classic FM and 3MBS, and has released recordings on both the Melba Recordings and Tall Poppies labels. Recently the ensemble began its own label, and its first CD, Oblivion, was featured as CD of the week on ABC FM. Ensemble Liaison has been ensemble-in-residence at Monash University since 2010.

David has appeared with the New Zealand, Goldner, Tin Alley and Flinders String Quartets, the New York Wind Soloists, the Australia Ensemble @UNSW, the Southern Cross Soloists, and members of the Cleveland, Shanghai and American String Quartets. He also collaborated with Nemanja Radulović, Ray Chen, Anthony Marwood, Henning Kraggerud, Zvi Plesser, Emma Matthews, Cheryl Barker, Peter Coleman-Wright, David Jones, Paul Grabowsky and Tony Gould. David’s festival performances include the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville, the Port Fairy Festival, the Woodend Winter Arts Festival, The Great Lakes Festival, Detroit, the Lucerne Festival, Switzerland, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo Japan, as a chamber musician alongside Principal members of the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras. He will be joining the Australia Ensemble @UNSW as guest clarinetist for the 2015 season.

David has held positions as Associate Principal Clarinet with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Principal Clarinet of the Macau Orchestra and Principal Clarinet of the Shanghai Radio Orchestra. He has appeared as Guest Principal with all of Australia’s major symphony and opera ballet orchestras along with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. He was also Co-Principal of the 2000 National Repertory Orchestra (US), acting Principal of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic and has performed with the New World Symphony, the New York City Opera, National Company, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, the China Philharmonic, the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.

In 2013 David performed British composer, Douglas Weiland’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra at the Melbourne Recital Centre. THE AGE wrote: “David Griffiths was a superb soloist, his dynamic range including some sublime pianissimo and his facility demonstrated in the recurring cadenzas.”

Other highlights of 2013 include performances of Bernstein’s Prelude Fugue and Riffs and Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto with the Monash Academy Orchestra and chamber music collaborations with British violinist, Anthony Marwood.

David’s recordings with Ensemble Liaison of Messiaen’s ‘Quartet for the End of Time’ for the Melba Recordings label and Trios of Brahms, Beethoven and Bruch for the Tall Poppies label have won high praise from critics around the world.

Originally from Armidale NSW, David studied at the Canberra School of Music with Alan Vivian before completing his Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music under the direction of Charles Neidich, Ricardo Morales, Alan Kay and David Krakauer.