Solo harpsichord celebration of Italy at Festival of Chichester

On July 15 at 7:30pm, David presents Viva Italia! Part 2, exploring the infinite riches of the great Italian keyboard composers, including Vivaldi, Domenico Scarlatti and Frescobaldi.

“I have just always loved early music and I've always loved the harpsichord,” David says.

“Bach would have predominantly used harpsichord and he was a great harpsichordist. It's a sound that you either love or you loathe but I love it. The point is that it is a plucked instrument and not a hammered instrument. It's not a piano, and the technique is fundamentally different. It doesn't respond to aggression. If you hit the keys harder, it doesn't make them louder. All you get is the tension rebounding back up your arm! You have to use much more of a finger-based technique.”

It was great fun to put together the programme for the evening: “I'm starting with some very early Italian music, some of the earliest keyboard music that has survived. And I'm going to end my concert with Vivaldi, the biggest name of them all. Who doesn’t know about Vivaldi! What is less well known is that J S Bach arranged quite a few concertos that he had written for strings and arranged them for solo harpsichord. But really in the programme in a concert I am looking for the greatest possible variety that you can have in an hour and a half of music.

“The choice in the programme is very subjective. I want to play music that I respond to and music that I love playing. It has to be enjoyable to play and enjoyable to listen to, but I think with the composers I have got, these are people with a solid enough reputation that you know that they will be good but really this is my take on the Italian harpsichord repertoire. It could have gone an infinite number of different ways, and different harpsichordists would have produced something completely different but really it's the pieces that I love playing and pieces I think will give the best variety.”

David studied at both the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. He took up historical performance because of a longstanding love for the music of J S Bach and soon came to specialise in the harpsichord, winning the Croft Early Music First Prize in 1991. Since then he has appeared at prestigious venues across the UK and abroad.

Notable performance projects have focused on Bach’s harpsichord concertos and the virginals music of William Byrd. Several contemporary composers have written works specially for him. David has released recordings of solo French harpsichord music (LIR 006), and English (MMC 112), as well with his duo, Duo Dorado.

Tickets from The Novium.

The 2025 Festival of Chichester is delighted to welcome Edward Cooke Family Law as its principal sponsor. The Festival is generously supported by Chichester City Council, firm friends to the Festival since its inception.