David Sanger is one of the world's most accomplished concert organists. He was was educated at Eltham College and the Royal Academy of Music and became well known as an organ recitalist when he won First Prize in two international competitions: St Alban's, England in 1969 and Kiel, Germany in 1972. His teachers have included Susi Jeans, Marie-Claire Alain and Anton Heiller.
He has toured many countries as recitalist - Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Italy, France, Russia, the United States, Mexico and South Korea - as well as giving many recitals in the British Isles, notably at the 'Proms', The Royal Festival Hall, the City of London Festival, the Bath Festival, the Chester Festival, the West-Riding Cathedrals' Festival, and many similar occasions. He has given Master Classes in many places including Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo, and was 'Headmaster' of the Church Music Seminar in Bergen for fourteen years. He is frequently partnered by Hans Fagius from Sweden for Organ Duet Concerts.
As a recording artist he has made over 20 CDs, all of which have received favourable reviews. His debut on the organ was with Polydor (DG Début Series) with Bach and Franck recorded in Munich. He recorded the complete organ works of César Franck at the Katarina Church in Stockholm (before the fire) for BIS. His Meridian recordings of Vierne's Six Organ Symphonies have received wide acclaim and he has embarked on recordings of the complete organ works of Bach. The most recent Bach CDs were recorded on the newly constructed, historic-style, Carsten Lund organ in Copenhagen's Garnisons Church.
Recently with Meridian he has recorded a selection of trifles by Lefébure-Wély, this latter CD recorded on the recent Cavaillé-Coll style instrument at Exeter College, Oxford, for which instrument David Sanger also acted as Consultant. Other recent projects as consultant include new, rebuilt or restored organs at Bromley Parish Church, Haileybury College, St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Sheffield Cathedral and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Sanger has appeared in the jury of many international organ competitions; St Alban's, Paisley, Speyer, Biarritz, Alkmaar, Odense Nűrnberg and Lucerne.
For some years he was professor of organ at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and chairman of the organ department there from 1987-89. Between 1989 and 1997 he was a Consultant Professor at the RAM. He was guest professor for a period of two years at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen. Currently, he is a Visiting Tutor in organ studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, and teacher of organ at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He has had many successful students at international competition level, including two winners at the Calgary International Organ Competition.
From time to time, he composes music for organ, as well as for strings and choirs. He has written an organ tutor in two volumes for beginners, entitled Play the Organ, which has become the most widely used in Britain in recent years. He runs courses for advanced students at his home in the Cumbrian Lake District, including tuition on the Bevington organ installed there. David Sanger's hobbies include racquet sports, walking, swimming and gardening.