Lutenist David Miller is well known as an ensemble player and as a soloist, having performed and recorded in both capacities. He has collaborated with Arab musicians and is a significant educator.

Miller began his studies as a guitarist at the Guildhall School of Music and switched to the lute in the late '70s when few university courses focusing on the lute were available. He had some training at Britain's National Centre for Early Music, which hosted master classes by prestigious visiting lutenists. As the English early music scene expanded, Miller added the theorbo, archlute, and Baroque guitar to his instrumental arsenal, and he found himself in demand as a continuo player with such groups as the Dufay Collective, the Purcell Quartet, and Musica Secreta. His popularity persisted with groups of the next generation, and he has performed and recorded with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Brandenburg Consort, and The King's Consort, among other ensembles.

Miller's recording debut came in 1985 on the album Three, Four, and Twenty Lutes. He has recorded for BIS, Hyperion, and Naxos, among others. His repertory includes both Renaissance and Baroque music, and in 1991, he backed countertenor James Bowman and The King's Consort on the Dowland recital album Awake, sweet love. Bowman was just one of Miller's high-profile collaborators, who include singers Paul Agnew, Emma Kirkby, and Stephen Varcoe, violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch, lutenist Jacob Heringman, and Arab singer and oud player Abdul Salam Kheir.

Miller's teaching career began at the Dartington International Summer School in the mid-'90s, and he later joined the faculty of his alma mater, the Guildhall School. He has released several solo albums, including The Famous Weiss (2014), featuring music by the lute virtuoso Silvius Leopold Weiss. Miller backed violinist Rachel Podger on a 2015 double album of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Rosary Sonatas, which won a Gramophone magazine Baroque Instrumental Award in 2016. In 2018, he accompanied soprano Grace Davidson on the well-reviewed album John Dowland: First Booke of Songes or Ayres. Miller joined the ensemble Fretwork in 2022 on the album Matthew Locke: The Flat Consort. By that year, his recording catalog comprised more than 80 items. ~ James Manheim, Rovi