David Earl was born in Stellenbosch, South Africa, moved to London at age nineteen, and has since lived there and in Oxford and Cambridge. While still a student at Trinity College of Music he gave his first Wigmore Hall recital and broadcast a live recital on BBC Radio 3. After winning first prize in the SABC Piano Competition he performed widely, appearing regularly at London venues, in the US, and much of Europe. His concerto repertoire includes the Viennese classics, many from the 19th century and several from the 20th, including the pianos concertos by Arthur Bliss and John Joubert, both of which he studied with the composers.

His professional career as a composer began in 1980 with the premiere of Cheri, an hour-long ballet commissioned by The Scottish Ballet, and given at that year's Edinburgh Festival. Four more ballet commissions followed, including a full-evening Macbeth for the choreographer Andre Prokovsky. Other works include concertos for piano, violin, cello and trumpet, and a Two-piano concerto; a symphonic choral setting of Wordsworth's Intimations of Immortality; sonatas for violin and cello, and, among works for solo piano, three suites and a set of 24 Preludes. Music for film includes P'Tang Yang Kipperbang , directed by Michael Apted, and Arthur's Hallowed Ground, directed by the veteran cinematographer Freddie Young. His Piano Concerto No 2 received its first performance with the Cambridge Graduate Orchestra at the West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, in June 2007, further compositions have followed each year from 2008 to 2011, including his Double Violin Concerto, completed in 2011, and since then he has begun work on an opera.