Curriculum Vitae
David F. Glidden
Curriculum Vitae · Viola
Professional Profile
Violist working at the center of historically informed performance, with a long-standing commitment to ensemble sound, transmission of practice, and fidelity to the musical worlds he inhabits. Principal violist of Le Concert des Nations under Jordi Savall and Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski, with whom he has maintained sustained collaborations devoted to 17th–19th-century repertoire on period instruments.
His work is shaped by close attention to sound and space, a craft-based approach to musicianship grounded in listening and shared responsibility, and a deep engagement with the conditions that allow a musical tradition to endure. Alongside his orchestral work, he has been active in chamber music, pedagogy, and writing. Based in Barcelona.
Current Positions
Principal Viola
- Le Concert des Nations – Jordi Savall (2019–present)
- Les Musiciens du Louvre – Marc Minkowski (2011–present)
Orchestral and Ensemble Work (selected)
- Les Musiciens du Louvre – violin / viola (2001–2005)
- Le Cercle de l’Harmonie – founding member, principal viola (2005–2014)
- Opera Fuoco – principal viola (2005–2009); section viola (2010–present)
- Capella Augustina – principal viola (2014–2016)
- La Ritirata – principal viola (2017)
- Capriccio Stravagante, Les 24 Violons (2002–2014)
Chamber Music
L’Harmonie Universelle – founding member, principal viola (2003–2014).
Collaborations include the Penderecki String Quartet, Quatuor Cambini-Paris, Salzburger Haydn Quintett, Café Zimmermann, and work with Jordi Savall, Jos van Immerseel, Francesco Corti, Xavi Puertas, Manfred Kraemer, Balázs Máté, and Hiro Kurosaki.
Recordings (selected)
- Michael Haydn: Complete String Quintets – CPO
- Mozart: Piano Quartets – DECCA (Mozart 225)
- Saudade – Rendezvous in Brazil – documentary on the life of Sigismund Neukomm
Numerous recordings and filmed projects with Le Concert des Nations and Les Musiciens du Louvre for Alia Vox, Archiv Produktion, and other labels.
Awards
- ORF Ö1-Pasticcio-Preis (2016)
- Förderpreis für Kultur Stadt Salzburg (2016)
Teaching and Transmission
His teaching approaches historically informed performance as a living craft: sound production, articulation, ensemble listening, and the relationship between music, space, and historical context. He understands teaching not as the delivery of method but as sustained inhabitation – a shared dwelling in repertoire through which the narrative thickness of the music and its world is preserved and handed on.
Teaching engagements include the YOPCA program, the JONC Early Music Program, and the Curs de Música Antiga de Girona.
Pedagogical Lineage
His formation draws from several interwoven traditions: the Auer lineage, with its emphasis on expressive responsibility and rhetorical presence; the Franco-Belgian and Galamian traditions, with their attention to structure and clarity of gesture; historically informed performance, understood not as style but as a mode of listening grounded in historical awareness and embodied rhetoric; and a Canadian chamber music culture centered on collective responsibility and shared musical ethics.
Principal transmission paths include: Leopold Auer → Mischa Mischakoff → Sidney Harth → Angelo Calcafuoco; Leopold Auer → Alexander Chuhaldin → Steven Staryk; Ivan Galamian → Eugene Kash; Henryk Szeryng → Martin Beaver; Lorand Fenyves → Martin Beaver / David Stewart; Oscar Shumsky → David Stewart; and direct study with Jaap Schröder, Marilyn McDonald, and Pavlo Beznosiuk.
Education
- Royal Conservatory of Music, The Hague – Historical Performance with Pavlo Beznosiuk (1999–2003)
- Wilfrid Laurier University – Chamber Music with the Penderecki String Quartet (1995–1999)
- University of Manitoba – Violin and Viola Studies with David Stewart (1993–1995)
Languages
English (native) · French (fluent) · Spanish (C1)