"Gershwin ... and all that JaZZ"

David Braid has been touted as one of the most gifted young pianists and composers in Canada. A Juno Award winner and National Jazz Award recipient, Braid is in demand for a variety of projects and has performed extensively across Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan and other parts of Asia.

Braid graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Toronto in 1998 and was nominated for the Governor General's Academic Medal. The same year, Braid was a semi-finalist in the Concours Internationaux de Piano Jazz in Paris, France.

With a solid interest in composition, Braid's first commission was from the Global Knowledge Foundation, to compose and perform a piece for Dr. Stephen Hawking, "He [Hawking] loved David Braid's hauntingly beautiful jazz composition?" - Globe & Mail

Thirty-one-year-old Braid has written over fifty works and recently unveiled his first orchestral piece with the Winnipeg Symphony, which blended jazz form, symphonic composition and improvisation.

Braid is currently writing a suite for jazz sextet and orchestra to be premiered in 2007. Braid is also exploring his interest in hybrid jazz forms through a new unique collaboration with jazz cellist and composer, Matt Brubeck. This ensemble will release their first recording in late 2006.

Aside from performing and composing, Braid is on faculty at the University of Toronto.