David Hamilton was born in 1955 in Napier, New Zealand and is a contemporary composer.
Hamilton was head of music at Epsom Girls' Grammar School in Auckland until 2001 but now spends much of his time on composing.[1] He has composed well over 100 works for choirs with orchestra or organ. For many of his songs he takes words from poems and writes music for them, such as a setting of Tennyson's poem "Ask me no more" for soprano and piano, which won the Ned Rorem Award for Song Composition in the USA.[1] Works have been commissioned by most major New Zealand groups including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the New Zealand Youth Choir and Radio New Zealand. His works are increasingly being performed in countries around the world, eg. in Italy, Japan, Singapore and the USA. Recent major works include Missa semplice, first performed in March 2007, scored for SAB choir with piano or organ and Missa Pacifica, first performed in November 2005, scored for SAB Choir and orchestra.[2]