BIOGRAPHY
BBC Composer-In-Residence and BBC Music & Audio Award winner, David Pickvance has scored 100+ film, television & radio projects. These range from cinema released feature films, through to globally distributed animated kids shows to landmark BBC drama. His clients include BBC, Walt Disney, HiT Entertainment, Mattel, Chorion, ABC, SBS, Film London, Matchbox Pictures and the TATE Modern.
David is also a sound recordist and passionate acoustic ecologist and has created contemporary music and sound courses for the TATE Modern in London.
David started his career as a composer back in 1992 after graduating from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.
From 1992 –1996, he composed and produced three award winning instrumental albums. Distributed throughout Europe, Canada, Asia and Australia, these platinum selling albums helped define a strong musical vision and highlight a long-standing fascination with film and TV music.
Since then David has composed soundtracks for film, TV & radio and has worked with the BBC, Disney, Mattel, HiT Entertainment, ABC, Tate Modern to name a few. His musical versatility is evident in the BBC productions of Witness, Peter Pan In Scarlet, Richard III, David Copperfield, Where The Wild Things Are, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Birds. He has explored a wide range of musical styles ranging from contemporary orchestral, minimalism, jazz, world music, ambient elecronica and others that defy categorization.
In 2005, David was appointed Composer-in-Residence to the BBC in London. During this period he scored the soundtracks to 36 productions, each time collaborating with different a writer and director. His soundtrack to the BBC/Film London production The City Speaks won the BBC Audio & Music Award. The music incorporated cutting edge sound design that explored entirely new territory. Instrumentation included a swiss alphorn and soprano recorder set against a backdrop of minimalist electronica.
Recently, David composed the soundtrack to the new BBC production of Robert Graves’ I, Claudius. The original series was broadcast in the 70’s and gained cult status. This latest production stars Sir Derek Jacobi, Tim McInnerny and Tom Goodman-Hill and won the British Audie Award.
David also enjoys working in children’s TV. He spent 12 years composing soundtracks, songs, TVCs and idents for the Disney Channel. Since 2008 he has worked for Mattel and HiT Entertainment as a core creative, composing and producing the music for 6 series of the classic kids TV show, Fireman Sam. To date, 153 episodes and 4 feature films have been completed and the show is broadcast in over 155 territories in 35 languages. Fireman Sam is now one of Mattel’s most successful global properties.
Aside from his composing David has been active creating and presenting contemporary sound courses at the TATE Modern in London. These theoretical and practical courses explore the history of contemporary art music and study the methodologies employed by composers and sound artists.
David is currently working on a new solo album and experimenting with musique concrete, noise and revolutionary sound design software. He operates from his new surround-sound HD studio, Signal Hill, and divides his time between London and Sydney.
SIGNAL HILL STUDIO
Over the years David has amassed a large collection of vintage analogue synthesisers, microphones, drum machines and rare sound processing equipment at his recording studio, Signal Hill. Located on the east coast of Sydney, on top of a cliff, the studio is an inspiring place with stunning views over the ocean. It is particularly good for whale watching and weather photography.
