David Ward: Composer and Performer


As a performer and composer I have worked in many different musical settings: jazz, blues, bluegrass, improvised music, Indian classical, Serbian gypsy music, and original projects. I play acoustic, electric and cigarbox slide guitar and 4, 5 & 8 string banjos. I have composed and performed for such theatre shows as Krishnan's Dairy, The Candlestickmaker and The Arrival

www.myspace.com/davidwardmusician

Key skills:
  • I play acoustic, electric and slide guitar and 4, 5 & 8 string banjos. 
  • I compose, arrange and musicially direct music for theatre.
Since Graduating in 2001 from the Wellington Conservatorium of Music with a BMus in Jazz Performance, he has performed with such musicians as: Chris O’Conner, John Bell, Lucien Johnson, Roger Sellers, Tom Callwood, Paul Dyne, Blair Latham, Papon (Angaraag Mahanta), Vaishali Samant,
Isaac Smith, Ian Downer, Nick Van Dyke, Misha Marks, Julien Taylor, Blair Latham, Ben Wood, Darren Mathiassen, Patrick Bleakley, Hannah Griffin, Rosie Langabeer, Viraj Salvi and Jonny Marks.
A few groups he has been part of are: Onomatopoeia, Niko Nezna, Interplay Trio, The Black Cats, Super Sausage, The Night Dreamers, Zirkus Big Band, The Broadsides and New Pacific Music Ensemble.
Since 2004 he has worked with Indian Ink Theatre Company, performing in NZ, Australia, Singapore and Germany for the critically acclaimed theatre shows Krishan’s Dairy and The Candlestickmaker:
“Integral to the quickening and mellowing of the Candlestickmaker’s pace is David Ward’s excellent music. His measured strings evoke the heat of Kerala and the drops of sweat clinging to the backs of Rohan and Sunil. At the same time, each slow twang of his guitar resonates with an inescapable loneliness” TODAY (Singapore)
In 2008 David composed, performed and musically directed their latest work –
The Dentist’s Chair, commissioned for the Wellington International Arts Festival:
“Marvellously gritty songs” – DOMINION POST
“Splendidly creepy songs” – THE LISTENER
“Haunting” “Excellent in both conception and execution” - THEATREVIEW
For The Dentist’s Chair he was nominated alongside Gareth Farr and Jonathan Crayford for “Most Outstanding Composer” in the 2008 Annual Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards
In 2009 David collaborated with Andrew McMillan, Chris O’Connor and John Bell on the “World Class” soundtrack for Red Leap Theatre’s production of The Arrival which premiered in the 2009 Auckland International Arts Festival.
He is currently performing with Canadian born alt-country singer
Tami Neilson, winner of the 2009 NZ Music Awards Tui for
Best Country Album

Contact:
dave.ward@clear.net.nz