 Sir Andrew Davis, one of Britain's foremost conductors, is continually in demand as a guest artist with leading European, North American and Far Eastern orchestras.
His first appearance with the BBC Symphony Orchestra was in 1970. Appointed their Chief Conductor in 1989, he maintained and enhanced its tradition of innovative programming and strengthened its reputation as one of the world's most versatile ensembles.
During his tenure he conducted many special projects, London Proms (including the famed Last Night) and overseas tours, among them Hong Kong, three trips to Japan, their 1998 North American tour and frequent European visits (including the orchestra's Salzburg Festival debut in 1997).
London highlights included acclaimed one-composer Festivals such as Hindemith, Janacek, Ives, Messiaen and Kurt Weill at the Barbican Hall, a remarkable all-Boulez concert at the Royal Festival Hall and an award-winning series of films for BBC Television, alongside regular main season and BBC Proms appearances.
He has conducted such opera companies as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera, New York, San Francisco Opera, Bavarian State Opera and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
For many years a regular visitor to Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where he led successful cycles of Mozart, Strauss, Janacek and Tchaikovsky operas, he became their Musical Director in 1988, marking his final season there with productions of all three of the Mozart/da Ponte operas.
He relinquished his Glyndebourne Festival Opera and BBC Symphony appointments on becoming Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Lyric Opera of Chicago in September 2000.
His tenure as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra was the longest since its founder Sir Adrian Boult, and he has now become its first ever Conductor Laureate, with regular London appearances, including Proms, and touring projects. He will also return to Glyndebourne as guest conductor.
He guest conducts such orchestras as New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, Boston and Toronto Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Staatskapelle, NDR Hamburg, Vienna Symphony, London Symphony and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra between 1995 and 1999.
Highlights of the 2001/2002 season included his very successful Dresden Staatskapelle debut at the Vienna Musikverein and an extended tour to the Far East and Australia with the BBC Symphony. He conducted London concerts and a short Italian tour with the London Symphony Orchestra and made his Bayreuth Festival debut conducting Lohengrin.
The 2002/2003 season included many re-invitations, among them further projects with the Dresden Staatskapelle and his debut at Leipzig's Semperoper as well as return visits to the Bayreuth Festival and to the Teatro alla Scala, Milan (conducting Cunning Little Vixen).
In 2003/4 he returned to work with the LSO both in London and on tour to Greece, Austria and Switzerland, and conducted acclaimed performances of Mahler's Ninth Symphony with the Gewandhausorchester, Leipzig.
Future projects include his first complete Ring cycle with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, touring with the BBC SO and guest-conducting with L'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Toronto Symphony.
Andrew Davis' extensive discography includes the Dvorak Symphonies with the Philharmonia, the Mendelssohn Symphonies with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and a Borodin cycle with the Toronto Symphony for CBS. He also made a number of recordings with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic for Finlandia. Operatic releases include the Glyndebourne productions of Katya Kabanova, Jenufa, and Queen of Spades.
BBC Symphony Orchestra recordings for Virgin Classics include the Shostakovich Violin concertos, Brahms Piano concertos and Nielsen Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 for Virgin Classics; Tippett's The Mask of Time; Elgar/Payne Symphony No.3 for NMC and 'The British Line' for Warner Classics International. This last includes the Elgar Symphonies 1 & 2 and Enigma Variations, a complete Vaughan Williams symphony cycle and music by Delius, Britten and Tippett. Recent releases include Weill's 'Firebrand of Florence' on Capriccio.
His many recording awards include the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for the best musical opera performance of 1994 (Eugene Onegin, Glyndebourne Festival Opera); 1997 Gramophone Award for Best Video (Lulu, Glyndebourne Festival Opera); 1998 Gramophone Award for Best Contemporary Recording (Birtwistle's Mask of Orpheus, BBC Symphony Orchestra); 1998 Critics' Choice Award for National Public Radio - Performance Today (Elgar/Payne Symphony No.3 with BBC Symphony Orchestra); the 2000 South Bank Show award for Opera (Pelléas et Mélisande, Glyndebourne Festival Opera).
Andrew Davis received a Royal Philharmonic Society/Charles Heidsieck Music Award in 1991 for leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra through an outstanding Diamond Jubilee season, for his excellence in the operatic field, particularly as the Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and for his championing of British music, especially the music of Tippett.
In recognition of his services to music, Andrew Davis was awarded the CBE in May 1992 and in January 1999, he was made a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List.
|
Listen to R3
