Curriculum Vitae

David Mesquita was born in València in 1977. His musical alphabetization took place in parallel with the absolute solfége of the conservatoire and the relative solmisation according to the Kodály method. He received lessons in piano, violin and dolçaina - a folk shawm from the País Valencià. In his childhood and youth he took an active part in Valencian musical life: He played and sang in various orchestras and choirs. In the process, he became familiar with Iberian Renaissance music at an early age. He also performed regularly as a dolçainer in street festivals and thus became familiar with the scriptless polyphony - an early experience that later proved formative. He also gained further experience as an electric bass player, keyboard player and songwriter in a rock band. Particularly formative during his years in València were lessons in analysis and conducting with Juan Luís Martínez.

From 2000 to 2005 David Mesquita studied conducting in Freiburg i. Br. (with a focus on choral conducting) with Hans Michael Beuerle. In 2002 he added a second major in music theory with Otfried Büsing. An important focus of his Freiburg studies was the music of the 19th and early 20th centuries. A decisive turning point was the guest workshops on improvised counterpoint that Markus Jans gave at the Freiburg Musikhochschule in 2004 and 2005. These reawakened his interest in Renaissance music from the perspective of improvisation. In 2007-2009 he then completed supplementary studies in early music theory at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Dominique Muller and Markus Jans.

Since 1998, David Mesquita has conducted numerous choirs (including children's and church choirs) and orchestras, including the Tallis Ensemble Freiburg (2005-2015) and the Kammerchor Emmendingen (since 2006). His activity as a university lecturer began with teaching assignments for music theory in Freiburg (2005-2009) and Trossingen (2006-2009). From 2009 to 2011 he was lecturer for music theory and aural training at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. Since 2011 David Mesquita teaches aural training at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis / Hochschule für Musik FHNW. As part of this work, he has developed a concept for the subject "Contrapunto alla mente" and established it in the curriculum of the Schola Cantorium Basiliensis.

In 2021 David Mesquita was awarded a doctorate from the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg with a dissertation on improvised counterpoint in Spain around 1700.