David Elton

David Elton is Principal Trumpet of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Before his move to WASO in 2005, David held the Principal Trumpet position with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra for four years. He also performs regularly as a guest with the Melbourne Symphony, the Queensland Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony.

David has been sought after as a soloist and recitalist. Performances include Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s 2004 Masters Series, and the world premiere of James Ledger’s Trumpet Concerto in 2007 with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. He was a featured solo artist at the 2008 Melbourne International Festival of Brass, and will return in 2009 with the Australian Brass Quintet, of which he is a founding member.

Raised in Sydney, David studied with Paul Goodchild. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Queensland Conservatorium and a Master of Music from Northwestern University (USA), where he was a student of Charles Geyer. He was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and shared first prize in the International Trumpet Guild’s Student Solo Competition held in Kentucky USA.

David is currently teaching at the University of Western Australia and the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where he also directs the Brass Ensemble. He has also held teaching positions at the Queensland Conservatorium and Adelaide University. He was the trumpet tutor at the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp in both 2008 and 2009.

David is a pursuer and expert on fine and rare wine and coffee varieties recently discovering a coffee bean chewed by monkeys prior to grinding. David has only ever played one game of golf and plans to keep it that way.