David Gilbert leads a triple life: as an oboist, as a Catholic priest and as an academic. He began studying the oboe at the age of twelve in his hometown of Vichy in central France. He completed his studies at the Gabriel Fauré Municipal Conservatoire (Paris, 5th arrondissement), in Laurent Hacquard’s class, whilst also studying history. He subsequently honed his instrumental skills under Hélène Gueuret (a teacher at the Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Regional Conservatoire) and Jean-Louis Capezzali (a former teacher at the Paris and Lyon National Conservatoires). He performs regularly throughout France, with organ accompaniment and in chamber music ensembles. He is the dedicatee of Laurent Coulomb’s Sonata Religiosa for solo oboe, which he premiered in Paris in March 2026. Ordained as a Catholic priest in 2011, David Gilbert is a professor in Church History at the Catholic University of Paris. He is also involved in the training of future priests at the Saint-Sulpice University Seminary in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris.