Critically acclaimed for his ‘sonorous’ bass voice, David Hansford has performed more than 20 principal roles and regularly appears on stages throughout the UK and increasingly in Europe.  Equally comfortable in comic and serious roles, his repertoire ranges from Monteverdi to modern commissions, covering Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Offenbach and Britten on the way, and his numerous concert performances cover everything from Bach onwards.

In the 2015-16 season David appears as Boris in Boris Godunov (prologue) at Dartington Summer School and Bonzo and Yamadori in Madama Butterfly for Bergen National Opera. Concert engagements include Matthäus Passion (Jesus) with Bergen Domkor, Bass soloist in the world premier of Lera Auerbach’s The Infant Minstrel with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and Bass soloist in Philip Glass Powaqqatsi with the Philip Glass Ensemble.

David’s interest in music began aged three when he started learning the piano and increased as he took up the violin, viola and bassoon.  After leaving school he studied composition, first at the Birmingham Conservatoire and later at the Royal College of Music, and when it became clear that his future lay on the opera stage he enrolled in the postgraduate course in voice at the RCM and progressed from there into the Opera School.  Since graduating, David has performed a wide range of roles, with personal highlights including Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer with the Slaithwaith Philharmonic Orchestra and Focus Opera, Sarastro in a number of productions of Die Zauberflöte and creating leading roles in several contemporary operas.  He is also a regular fixture as a soloist on the concert platform and continues to be active as a choral singer, where is frequently called upon to produce the extremely low notes in Rachmaninov Vespers and Mahler Resurrection Symphony and is the second bass in the Edvard Grieg Kor in Norway.