David Juritz

David Juritz was born in Cape Town, South Africa, where he began violin lessons at the age of six with Noel Travers. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in London with Hugh Bean and Jaroslav Vanecek on scholarships from Associated Board Scholarship and the Leverhulme Trust. Whilst there he won all the top prizes for violin and was the recipient of the college's highest award, the Tagore Gold Medal

On leaving college he joined the English Chamber Orchestra who sponsored his South Bank debut at the Purcell Room in 1985. Since then he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in all the major concert halls of the UK as well as performing in North and South America, the Far East, Europe, South Africa and Australia.

In 1991 he was appointed leader of the UK's longest established chamber orchestra, the London Mozart Players . David works frequently as soloist and director with the LMP and in this role, has given many world premieres including new works by Cecilia McDowall, Geoffrey Burgon, Lynne Plowman and Geoffrey Hanson. He also works as a guest-director with orchestras such as the Ambache Chamber Orchestra , Mozart Festival Orchestra , the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Zurich Chamber Orchestra . He is a regular guest leader with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic and London Philharmonic Orchestras as well as leading session orchestras on major films. Recent credits include The Merchant of Venice and The Last King of Scotland.

His recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the London Mozart Players was acclaimed as 'one of the finest interpretations on modern instruments'. In March 2003 Dutton released his world premier recording of works for violin and piano by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor . Other recordings include music by George Dyson and Rebecca Clarke on Dutton, quartets by Szymanowski and Schubert with the Maggini String Quartet for ASV, Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending for Collins, Slow Dances, Quiet Passions on Bonus and Louise Talma on Naxos

In addition to performing, David Juritz writes about issues related to music, contributing articles to The Strad , Double Bassist and Nature and recently presented 'The Asylum Band' on Radio 4 , a programme about the Orchestra of Norfolk Mental Hospital. In 2005 he took over the role of Artistic Director of the Burton Bradstock Festival .

David was a soloist with the London Mozart Players in the 2006 BBC Promenade Concerts . February 2007 saw the first concerts with his new group, The London Tango Quintet , and in June this year, he embarks on a new venture, Round the World and Bach . Over the following four months David will busk his way round the world playing Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin. During this journey he will be raising money to set up a new fund, Musequality , which will finance start-up music projects in poor areas. He will be recording the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas in August and a TV film plotting his progress is being planned.

He plays a violin made in Piacenza in 1748 by J B Guadagnini .

A note from David:

'You can't get rid of poverty by giving people money.'  P.J. O'Rourke

Can you get rid of it by giving them music lessons instead?

Music lessons as a solution to the problems of poverty may seem a bizarre idea yet, around the world, music programmes have proved remarkably effective at showing young people that they hold the key to improving not only their own lives, but that of their community as well.

Most of us can endure a period of deprivation as long as we believe we have a future.   What is hardest to bear is the alienation, lack of opportunity and hopelessness that plague the poorest people.

I discovered when I spent a few months playing on streets around the world to launch Musequality, that while being ignored is an uncomfortable feeling, being marginalised to the point that you feel invisible is crippling. It feels very personal.

Social exclusion and lack of opportunity are major factors in creating a downward spiral of low self-esteem and under-achievement. It doesn't stop there. In an attempt to preserve their fragile self-esteem vulnerable youths may retreat into a closed group where a system of mutual appraisal often reflects hostility felt towards the society that has excluded them. In this scale of comparison, an individual that excels in stealing, fighting and vandalising gains in status, while a criminal conviction may represent a badge of honour.

The tragedy is that, because this behaviour disrupts their communities most of all, these young people discover too late that, far from finding a solution to their problems, they have made them worse.

Music programmes offer no miracle cure but they are a reliable and effective way of addressing those problems of low self-esteem and exclusion. When young people join a choir, band or an orchestra, they enter into a world where their contribution matters.   Inappropriate behaviour spoils the experience not only for the group, but for themselves as well and the feedback is instant. As the complexity of the music being tackled increases and the children gain confidence, they discover that, by working constructively with their peers, they can achieve something truly amazing and that poverty presents no barrier to developing their talent The raw materials required are time and effort - something that we all hold in equal measure.

And then they go on stage. For many of these children, the experience of performing is life changing. Why? Because it may be the first time that they have been the focus of attention for all the right reasons.   Music, the ultimate language of inclusion, bonds performer and listener - and for an audience, and I saw this transformation taking place with my own eyes, they realize that a group of young people they may previously seen as a problem is an asset and part of all our futures.

Please have a look at our website, www.musequality.org , where you can read out about some of the projects we are supporting and find out how you help us help children to change their own lives.

David Juritz