Born and raised in Cuba, David Virelles grew up in a musical family, his father being a singer-songwriter and his mother a flautist in the Santiago de Cuba Symphony. He started studying classical music at age seven, as well as being exposed to the large array of musical forms in the island. Eventually, David discovered his grandfather's Jazz collection and also became interested in that tradition.
In 2001, he left for Canada as a protégé of Canadian musician Jane Bunnett, with whom he recorded several albums (two of them Grammy nominated), toured and collaborated with on a number of projects.
While in Canada, David graduated from the Humber College music program. He studied privately with pianist Barry Harris and studied composition with the influential composer Henry Threadgill, thanks to a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.
He has performed or recorded with Steve Coleman, Dewey Redman, Sam Rivers, Dan Weiss, Dafnis Prieto, Hermeto Pascoal, José Luis Quintana "Changuito", Stanley Cowell, Rudresh Mahantappa, Horacio "El Negro" Hernández, Mark Turner, Paul Motian, Ben Street, Chris Potter, David Binney, Bill McHenry, among others.
His debut album Motion was released in 2007 on the Justin Time label, after winning the Grand Prix de Jazz Award at the Montréal Jazz Festival. In 2003 he became the first recipient of the Oscar Peterson prize, presented by Peterson himself.
He continues to develop his musical concepts via the 3D Trio (featuring Thomas Morgan and Marcus Gilmore) as well as with the group Continuum, a collaborative effort by Virelles, bassist Ben Street and legendary drummer Andrew Cyrille.
