David Warin Solomons

David Warin Solomons (b. 1953) began his musical career relatively late, taking up the violin at the age of 14 and the classical guitar a few years after that. Most of his musical expression in composition has been based on the principle of “learning by doing,” liberally seasoned with musical collaborations. The first of these collaborations, as far back as 1969, was with two pen-friends in France and Germany, which gave rise to several trios for the unusual combination of violin, trumpet, and piano. 

Solomons moved on to Christ Church at Oxford University in 1972 to study French and German and also began to sing there on a regular basis, eventually settling on alto as his preferred range. At Oxford he met lots of great musicians, many of whom had important influences on his compositional style. 

His music — including some of his most romantic pieces for cello and guitar — continued to develop during his two years of language teaching in Strasbourg and Oakham, but he finally decided to leave teaching, joined the Civil Service, and moved to London where he also made progress both as composer and as church singer. 

In 1991 he had to move up North with his job in the translation service, so he bade farewell to the London choirs and moved quickly into the musical life of Manchester Cathedral. The music department there has been supportive to his compositional side over the years, and a variety of his pieces have been performed there, including the Manchester Magnificat, a carol called Alleyways, and his Mass for Men’s Voices. 

His composing has also been supported in various fruitful ways by the North-West Composers Association, the music publishers DaCapo Music and Musik Fabrik, Tubalaté, and online organizations such as the Classical Music Makers, Toptempo, Kalvos, and Damian’s Music Bazaar and the Delian Society. As a result of this, his compositions have now been heard at many concerts, on CDs, and also online. 

Over this time Solomons’s compositional style has — of course — developed, but he has always remained true to the principle that a good memorable tune is what counts. 

Solomons has his own website www.dwsolo.com which contains links to his publishers and to a large number of mp3 files and videos of his works.