{{Short description|English pianist and composer (1935–2025)}} {{About||the English cricketer|David Wilde (cricketer)|the American writer and critic|David Wild}} {{Use British English|date=August 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = David Wilde | image = David Wilde BW (3x4 cropped).jpg | caption = Wilde in 2020 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|02|25|df=y}} | birth_place = Stretford, Greater Manchester, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|10|23|1935|02|23|df=y}} | death_place = | education = Royal Manchester College of Music | occupation = {{ubl| Classical pianist | Composer | Academic teacher }} | organizations = Musikhochschule Hannover<br>University of Edinburgh | website = {{url|https://david-wilde.com/}} }}
'''David Wilde''' (25 February 1935 – 23 October 2025) was an English pianist, composer and academic teacher. He won the 1961 Liszt–Bartók Competition. In 1962, he won the Queen's Prize and was invited to play with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic at the Royal Concert in the Royal Festival Hall in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II. Wilde was a professor of piano at the Musikhochschule Hannover from 1981 to 2000 and later became a visiting professor in keyboard studies at the University of Edinburgh. During the 1990s, he composed many works which protested against human rights abuses that were happening at the time and was twice honoured by the city of Sarajevo. Wilde frequently played as a soloist at the Proms.
== Life and career == Born in Stretford, Greater Manchester, on 25 February 1935,<ref name="AM">{{cite web|publisher=AllMusic |title=David Wilde |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/david-wilde-mn0001616318}}</ref><ref name="Delphian" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=12 November 2025 |title=David Wilde, 'magnificently berserk' pianist and composer of The Cellist of Sarajevo |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/11/12/david-wilde-piano-yo-yo-ma-cellist-sarajevo-composer/ |access-date=12 November 2025 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> he studied as a boy with Solomon and his pupil Franz Reizenstein<!--, who had also studied composition with Hindemith and Vaughan Williams-->. He studied composition at the Royal Manchester College of Music with Richard Hall from 1949, elected a fellow in 1953. He won the 1961 Liszt–Bartók Competition in Budapest.<ref name="Delphian" /> Nadia Boulanger, a jury member, invited him to Paris for further study. They remained in touch for the rest of her life.<ref name="Delphian" /><ref name="Mollison" />
A frequent soloist at the Proms, working with such conductors as Horenstein, Boulez, and Downes, he shared with Jacqueline du Pré the honour of opening the BBC's second TV channel in the North of England with Sir John Barbirolli and the Hallé Orchestra in 1962. In the same year, Wilde won the Queen's Prize and was invited to play at the Royal Concert in the Royal Festival Hall, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Sir John Pritchard, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, to whom he was afterwards presented by Sir Malcolm Sargent.<ref name="Mollison" />
During the 1990s, he composed many works protesting against human rights abuses at the time and was twice honoured by the city of Sarajevo.<ref name="Delphian" /> ''The Cellist of Sarajevo'' for cello solo (1992), dedicated to Vedran Smailovic, was recorded by Yo-Yo Ma<ref name="Mollison" /> for Sony Classical,<ref name="AM" /> and the opera ''London Under Siege'', after an idea by Bosnian poet Goran Simic, was produced by the State Theatre of Lower Saxony in 1998.<ref name="Delphian" />
Wilde was professor of piano at the Musikhochschule Hannover from 1981 to 2000; his pupils include Jack Gibbons.<ref name="Delphian" /> On his return to the UK, he was appointed visiting professor in keyboard studies at the University of Edinburgh.<ref>[https://www.reidconcerts.music.ed.ac.uk/performer/wilde-david-1935 ''Concerts in the University of Edinburgh from 1841'']</ref>
=== Personal life and death === Wilde's first marriage ended in divorce in the 1980s.<ref name="Mollison" /> He was later married to Jane Mary Wilde who was a poet, linguist, historian and musician.<ref name="Delphian" />
Wilde died from complications of dementia on 23 October 2025, at the age of 90.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWtjlzeil1I 'David Wilde (25 Feb 1935 – 23 Oct 2025)'], Delphian Records via YouTube</ref><ref>[https://slippedisc.com/2025/10/death-of-noted-british-pianist-90/ "Death of noted British pianist, 90"], ''Slipped Disc''.</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=David Wilde obituary: pianist and composer |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/david-wilde-obituary-death-pianist-and-composer-j78vcntjh |access-date=26 November 2025 |publisher=The Times |date=25 November 2025}}</ref>
== Recordings == Wilde's recordings include Beethoven's Violin Sonatas with Erich Gruenberg, Reizenstein's Violin Sonata, also with Gruenberg, Thomas Wilson's Piano Concerto, especially composed for him, and works by Schumann, Liszt, and Chopin. He recorded for His Master's Voice, Decca Oiseau Lyre, Lyrita Saga and CRD, and latterly exclusively for Delphian Records of Edinburgh, who issued a recordings of music by Dallapiccola, Busoni, and Liszt, Schumann and Brahms. A Brahms recital was issued in 2010.<ref>[https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/DC4040.pdf ''Wilde Plays Brahms'']. Chandos Records.</ref>
He recorded Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, released in 1977, Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Wind instruments with the same orchestra, and Stockhausen's ''Gruppen'', in which he played first celesta for the UK premiere in Glasgow conducted by Gibson, and first piano when Boulez conducted it in London.<ref name="Mollison" /> ''The Cellist of Sarajevo'' and chamber music was recorded in 2017.<ref name="Siôn" />
==References== <references>
<ref name="Mollison">{{cite news | last = Mollison | first = Kate | url = https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/15045096.musical-political-life-composer-david-wilde/ | title = The musical and political life of composer David Wilde | newspaper = Herald Scotland | date = 25 January 2017 | access-date = 30 October 2025 }}</ref>
<ref name="Siôn">{{cite magazine | last = Siôn | first = Pwyll ap | url = https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/15045096.musical-political-life-composer-david-wilde/ | title = The Cellist of Sarajevo | magazine = Gramophone | date = January 2017 | access-date = 30 October 2025 }}</ref> https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/the-cellist-of-sarajevo
<ref name="Delphian">{{cite web | url = https://www.delphianrecords.com/blogs/artists/david-wilde | title = Artists : David Wilde | work = Delphian Records | date = 2025 | access-date = 28 October 2025 }}</ref>
</references>
==External links== * {{Official|https://david-wilde.com/}} * {{Discogs artist|David Wilde}} * {{IMDb name|2599930}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060218042427/http://www.delphianrecords.co.uk/monthly%20newsletter/newsletter0502.htm "''Wilde Plays Chopin at the Wigmore Hall''; David Wilde, piano; DCD34010"]—Delphian newsletter * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060221002607/http://www.cwu.edu/~michelj/Newsletter/Articles/sarajevo.html "The Cellist of Sarajevo"] in the newsletter ''Tutti Celli''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, David}} Category:1935 births Category:2025 deaths Category:21st-century British classical pianists Category:21st-century British male musicians Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh Category:British male classical pianists Category:English classical pianists Category:English composers Category:Musicians from Manchester Category:People educated at Arnold School Category:21st-century male pianists