David Pollard

Biography

Widely accepted as one of the most successful and sought after teachers in Europe, David is credited as the long-term teacher of many of the UK’s best-known and most successful singers. His present students are often heard in major roles in all the world’s international opera houses, most recently at the Royal Opera House in London, the New York Metropolitan Opera, Milan’s La Scala, The Bastille Opera in Paris, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Munich Staatsoper and Berlin’s Deutsche Oper. In the 2012-13 season five of his students are appearing in major roles at the New York Metropolitan Opera.

Competition successes amongst his students have included wins in all the major British competitions (The Kathleen Ferrier Competition, the Richard Tauber Prize, the Maggie Teyte, The Royal Overseas League, the International Mozart Competition, Cardiff Singer of the World and the Young Welsh Singer of the Year). Internationally, his students have been finalists and winners in the Domingo-Operalia Competition, the Salzburg Mozart Competition, the Jussi Bjorling competition, Maria Callas, Toronto and Neue Stimmen.  

An unprecedented number of his students have been company and young artists with English National Opera, a company with which David has had close ties. Over the last 10 years his students have been cast in over 100 roles at ENO and over 40 roles at the Royal Opera House.

Although in the past David was frequently invited to give masterclasses and to adjudicate on the continent, his teaching commitments over the last 10 years have been such that he has chosen to restrict his professional activities to his students in London. However David continues to maintain close connections with the major Conservatoires in France.

David joined the staff of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama as Professor of Singing in 1982 and was made a Fellow of the Guildhall School in 2001.