David Tod Boyd, born in north London to Isolde Menges, a noted concert violinist, and Harold Tod Boyd, a composer and musician, David spent much of his life living in Barnes, in the west of the city. He went to Beltane school in Wimbledon, then won a place to study the piano and clarinet at the Royal College of Music. 　　David's first musical season was as assistant director at the St James's theatre in 1951 with Laurence Olivier in Antony and Cleopatra, and Caesar and Cleopatra. From there he joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company and became chorus master and repetiteur at Sadler's Wells. He also took great pride in the seasons he played at the end of Blackpool pier. His talent was that he was not just able to play music, but had a profound sense of the beauty and emotion that music can produce. 　　He joined the National Theatre, then based at the Old Vic, in the mid-1970s as a musical director with Marc Wilkinson, and then worked with Harrison Birtwistle at the South Bank. But he finally returned to the Royal College of Music Opera School where he ended his career teaching and inspiring a new generation of students, retiring in his mid-70s.