Born in Melbourne, David Thomas studied clarinet at the University of Melbourne with Phillip Miechel and at the Vienna Conservatorium with Roger Salander. A Yamaha artist, he has held the position of Principal Clarinet with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2000, and was previously Associate Principal Clarinet with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
David has performed as a soloist with orchestras around Australia and with conductors including Markus Stenz, Oleg Caetani, David Robertson and Richard Gill, in standard concerto repertoire as well as contemporary Australian works. He has premiered concertos by Australian composers Ross Edwards (2007, dedicated to David), Nicholas Routley and Philip Czaplowski, and has performed Brett Dean’s concerto Ariel’s Music with the Sydney Symphony. He can be heard as soloist on an ABC Classics release of Ross Edwards’ Clarinet Concerto with the MSO conducted by Arvo Volmer, and as a member of the Melbourne Symphony on countless CD releases and MSO.LIVE videos.
David has taught clarinet at ANAM since the inception of the full-time performance programme, becoming ANAM Head of Woodwind in 2008. He is proud to have helped ANAM alumni to achieve careers as leading freelance and chamber music players, as members of Australian and overseas orchestras, and in top teaching positions.