Biography
David Van Maele (°1975 Ghent) started his musical studies at the Music Academy (Stedelijke Academie voor Muziek en Woord) of Tielt (West-Flanders) studying the clarinet with Franky Sarrazijn and Geert Defauw both honorary musiciens of the Royal Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides. He also attended the Music Secondary School in Ghent before he chose for a professional musical career and studied the clarinet with Eddy Vanoosthuyse at the Lemmens Institute in Louvain. He obtained the Master of Music degree (1999) with great distinction, the 'Manama' (Master after Master) degree for chamber music maxima cum laude and the 'Manama' for specialization in music (2002 maxima cum laude. David got quite some experience as orchestral musician by playing with several Belgian youth orchestras such as the Filharmonisch Jeugdorkest van Vlaanderen (Youth Philharmonic of Flanders) and the Belgian Youth Orchestra. He asldo attended numerous master classes in Belgium and abroad with renowned clarinetists such as Wenzel Fuchs, Edouard Brunner, Howard Klug, Luis Rossi, Thomas Friedli, Guy Deplus.
Since 2001, David is a member of the Royal Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides where he is currently playing the E flat clarinet. Since 1999 he teaches the clarinet at the Music Academy of Tielt (West Flanders) and from 2001 - 2008 he was guest teacher for B flat and E flat clarinet at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Ghent.
David plays the Buffet Crampon clarinets.
He is often invited to play with several symphony orchestras and ensembles such as Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, The Flemisch Opera, Il Novecento and The National Orchestra of Belgium.
With his performance of the 2nd Clarinet Concerto by Oscar Navarro on January 9th 2015, David won the First Prize of the international online competition for the best performance of this concerto. The jury consisted of the Spanish clarinetists José Franch-Ballester en José Gonzalez Granero (principal clarinet San Francisco Opera) and the composer Oscar Navarro himself.
In 2017, the composer Oscar Navarro finished his III Clarinet Concerto for Bb/Eb clarinet, a work commissioned by David Van Maele.
David played the World premier (symphonic version) on the 30th of June and the 1 of July in the concert halls of Alicante and Torrevieja. On the 9th of July he played the wind band premiere with the Belgian Guides.
The III Clarinet Concerto was presented to the American public, in collaboration with the Downey Symphony Orchestra, on Octobre 20th and was, just like the performance in Spain, received with a standing ovation.