Born on 23/03/1949, David Parry studied at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He then studied conducting in Spain, with Sergiu Celibidache. There, he conducted the first staging of the opera Peter Grimes on the Iberian Peninsula. Subsequently, he conducted at the Opernhaus Dortmund, the Opera North and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He was musical director of the English Touring Opera (1983-1987). He has conducted performances in major opera houses and festivals such as: the English National Opera, the Garsington Opera, the Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid, the Theater Basel, the Stuttgart Staatsoper, the Staatsoper Hannover, the New Israeli Opera, the Portland Opera, the Kungliga Operan (Royal Swedish Opera) and the Chinese Opera Festival Hong Kong. He often directs well-known orchestras, such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He is one of the best connoisseurs of the English opera repertory. In 1992 he founded the Almeida Opera Festival, of which he remains the artistic director. He is also an artistic advisor to record label Opera Rara and an artistic associate at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. Parry's name has become associated with a large number of recordings for Chandos Records and Opera Rara labels, covering a wide range of works, many from the Italian bel canto (Vincenzo Bellini, Gioachino Rossini, Giovanni Pacini, Simon Mayr, and Saverio Mercadante), as well as many rarely staged operas. He is also a member of the support staff of the Cardiff International Academy of Voice. He has appeared with the GNO once, conducting the opera Nixon in China (Athens Concert Hall, 2006/07).