BMus (Hons), MMus, LRAM

David Llewellyn Green (1935-2014) was born in Newport in 1935, the only child of William and Alice Green. The Green family moved to London, but, with the outbreak of the war, David was soon back in his beloved Wales as an evacuee with his Aunty Mabel, Uncle Arthur and cousins Robert and Owen - cousins he always regarded more as the brothers he never had. Following school, he became a student at The Royal Academy of Music, where he won several prizes and acquired several diplomas, before entering National Service as a Coldstream Guard - not a 3 year period in his life he particularly relished. As an external student, David later went on to enhance his qualifications, receiving a Bachelor of Music from Durham University in 1970 and a Master of Music in Composition from Bristol University in 1977. His teaching career began in Leyton at the Grammar School. Having lost both his parents in his 20's a change of scene was called for and David was appointed Head of Music at Bishop Auckland Technical College, County Durham. Three years later he returned south to lecture at Gypsy Hill Teacher Training College, later Kingston Polytechnic then Kingston University. After nearly 20 years at Kingston, David secured early retirement but had no intention of spending the rest of his days taking it easy. He spent some months in India, setting up the Darjeeling School of Music alongside enjoying a few years of globe trotting as an examiner for Trinity College of Music. This was undoubtedly the happiest period of his working life. David always had a number of private Piano and Organ pupils and served the Church of England first as Organist of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, and later as Organist at St. Mary's Church, Horsell. In London he directed a semi-professional choir and presided over a huge four Walker Organ, while at Horsell he built a huge amateur church choir and was the visionary responsible for installing a brand new small Hill Norman and Beard Organ, one of his proudest professional achievements. Later on he was very much involved with the design of the new Organ in the church of St. Nicholas Compton. Throughout adult life, he was a devoted Freemason, serving as the Chapter Organist in a variety of other Offices, culminating in his periods as Master of the Woking Lodge. He was also a member of the St Cecilia Lodge for musicians, and he served both Lodges as Chapter Organist. Beside all this, David spent a lifetime developing his skills as a composer, producing a considerable output of works for instrumentalists, singers and choirs, along with more substantial works such as his Symphony and Cantata. In his early 50's, David was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. At first he suffered with trembles but was able to function reasonably well and to pursue his musical career. As the years passed, the disease gradually took a firmer grip and the erosion of life as he had known it began. In June 2014 he peacefully passed away and 3 years later - in June 2017 - we started working through David's compositions, we released the first pieces in February 2018 and it is great to see that this large project of publishing all David's compositions now is well on its way.