David Bourque has played clarinet and  bass clarinet in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since 1983. Prior to his appointment to the TSO clarinet section, David played in the orchestras of the Stratford Festival, the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada. He has guested with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and L'Orchestre Symphonie de Montréal. He plays regularly in the finest chamber music festivals in the world, Festival of the Sound and the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. David is considered one of the finest bass clarinettists in North America and is Canada's leading bassethorn player.

Mr. Bourque's work in film and television sound recording includes many episodes of the re-makes of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents , seven seasons on Road to Avonlea and numerous episodes of Street Legal. He is also heard in the Academy Award winning Norman Jewison film, Moonstruck , the Dan Ackroyd-Jack Lemmon film, Getting Away with Murder and the miniseries soundtracks Texas and Larry McMurtry's The Streets of Laredo. David Bourque can also be heard in the film score recording of the music for the 1996 remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau (directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Marlon Brando) and many made for TV movies including the CBC docudrama of the Avro Arrow story.  He has recorded hundreds of TV jingles over the years

David is the editor of Northdale Music International's first editions of the Harmoniemusik of K. Anh. C. These editions will be identified as first editions in new the Köchel catalogue of the works of Mozart. The complete Harmoniemusik of K. Anh. C has been recorded by The Festival Winds, an all star cast of musicians including clarinettist James Campbell of Indiana University and hornist James Sommerville of the Boston Symphony for CBC records. He is the author of a DVD tutorial Working The Single Reed and The Bass Clarinettist's Workbook, an annotated guide to orchestral excerpts and he is published in a number of journals including The Clarinet and the Canadian Music Educator's Journal.

Mr. Bourque is a versatile and extensively recorded instrumental artist. His recording credits include numerous recordings with the Toronto Symphony, compact discs and radio broadcasts for CBC, the first recording of the Barenreiter edition of Mozart's Serenade in B flat K. 361, "Gran Partita" , the Canadian Saxophone Quintet's premiere recording Thanks for the Memories, Gary Kulesha's Third Chamber Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Winds and Mysterium Conjunctionis with clarinetist James Campbell . The latter are two of the five works that have been composed for Mr. Bourque by Gary Kulesha. David, James and Gary are mentioned in connection with the Mysterium in The Cambridge Guide To The Clarinet, ed. Colin Lawson.

David has taught in higher education since 1979.  He has held positions at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and the University of Western Ontario.  In 2004-2005 he was visiting professor at Mount Allison University and in the spring of 2008 was an Associate Professor  at the University of Prince Edward Island.  He currently teaches clarinet, bass clarinet and coaches the winds of the university orchestra at the University of Toronto.  David is a member of the teaching faculty of the National Youth Orchestra  of Canada. In 2009, David became involved with The Octet Project at Orford Arts Music and he has taught regularly as a guest at Indiana University since 2003.

David Bourque is a native Torontonian and is a graduate of University of Toronto’s and the University of Western Ontario’s Faculty of Music.