Dennis Russell Davies

Dennis Russell Davies (born April 16, 1944 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American renowned conductor and pianist, since the season 2018/2019 music director and chief conductor of Brno Philharmonic.

Biography

Davies studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School, where he received his doctorate. He was Music Director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 1972 to 1980. In 1977 he co-founded the American Composers Orchestra with composer Francis Thorne, and he was its music director until 2002.[1] Davies was music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic from 1991 to 1996.

In 1980, Davies moved to Stuttgart, Germany, where he was General Music Director of the Baden-Württemberg State Opera House from 1980 to 1987. There he premiered two Philip Glass operas, along with many standard operas, often in productions with innovative and unusual staging. He has worked with many directors, including Robert Altman in a collaboration on Salome in Hamburg. He has also held permanent posts with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Beethovenhalle Bonn (1987–95), and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Davies was chief conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the Linz Opera from 2002 to 2017.[2] In March 2008, Davies was named the third music director of the Sinfonieorchester Basel, effective with the 2009-10 season, for an initial contract of five years.[3][4] He held the post through the 2016-17 season.[5] In September 2017, the Brno Philharmonic announced the appointment of Davies as its next principal conductor, effective with the 2018-19 season, with an initial contract of four seasons.[6]

Davies has also led many festival orchestras, including the Aspen Music Festival, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, which he directed from 1974 to 1990, and the Saratoga Music Festival. He conducted The Flying Dutchman at the Bayreuth Festival, the second American to conduct there, and taught orchestral conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum.

Davies's recordings of note include Copland's Appalachian Spring with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 1979, for which he won a Grammy Award; Arvo Pärt's Fratres and Miserere; and many of Philip Glass's operas and symphonies, including the 5th symphony, which is dedicated to Davies. He premiered Glass' Symphony No. 10 at a 2012 New Year's concert in Linz. On Glass's 80th birthday, January 31, 2017, Davies premiered Glass' Symphony No. 11 at Carnegie Hall in New York.[7] Lou Harrison's 3rd Symphony is also dedicated to Davies.

Davies has had a long-standing association with the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. He has conducted Jarrett in classical concerto repertoire (including Mozart, Lou Harrison and Alan Hovhaness) and has himself performed Jarrett's music for piano and conducted Jarrett's orchestral music (featuring Jarrett as soloist as well as saxophonist Jan Garbarek).

References
  1. Anthony Tommasini (2002-04-17). "True to His Mission, Davies Bows Out With Orchestra". New York Times. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  2. "Markus Poschner wird neuer Linz Opern- und Orchesterchef". Die Presse. 2015-02-22. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  3. Julie Bloom (2008-03-21). "Arts, Briefly: Basel Symphony Names Director". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  4. Georg Rudiger (2010-02-05). "Der das Profil schärfen soll". Badische Zeitung. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  5. "Ivor Bolton wird Chefdirigent des Basler Sinfonieorchesters". Der Standard. 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  6. "Uměleckým ředitelem a šéfdirigentem Filharmonie Brno je Dennis Russell Davies. Světoznámý umělec povede orchestr od příští sezony" (Press release). Brno Philharmonic. 27 September 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  7. William Robin (2017-01-27). "Philip Glass Celebrates His 80th Birthday With an 11th Symphony". New York Times. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
Cultural offices
Preceded by
Leopold Sipe		 Music Director, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
1972–1980		 Succeeded by
Pinchas Zukerman
Preceded by
Silvio Varviso		 Music Director, Baden-Württemberg National Theater
1980–1987		 Succeeded by
Luis Garcia Navarro
Preceded by
Gustav Kuhn		 Music Director, Beethovenhalle Orchestra
1987–1995		 Succeeded by
Marc Soustrot
Preceded by
no predecessor		 Music Director, American Composers Orchestra
1977–2002		 Succeeded by
Steven Sloane
Preceded by
Martin Sieghart		 Principal Conductor, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
1995–2006		 Succeeded by
Michael Hofstetter
Preceded by
Pinchas Steinberg		 Principal Conductor, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
1996–2002		 Succeeded by
Bertrand de Billy
Preceded by
Martin Sieghart		 Music Director, Bruckner Orchestra Linz
2002–2017		 Succeeded by
Markus Poschner
Preceded by
Marko Letonja		 Music Director, Sinfonieorchester Basel
2009–2016		 Succeeded by
Ivor Bolton
Preceded by
Aleksandar Marković		 Principal Conductor, Brno Philharmonic
2018–present		 Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by
Kristjan Järvi		 Chief Conductor, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
2020–present		 Succeeded by
incumbent
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