Biography
This page uses content from the Dennis Russell Davies biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Dennis Russell Davies (born 16 April 1944, Toledo, Ohio, USA) is an American conductor and pianist. He was born in Toledo, Ohio and studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School of Music where he received his doctorate. He is a noted champion of living composers and modern music including Philip Glass, Hans Werner Henze, William Bolcom, Lou Harrison, John Cage, Giya Kancheli, Arvo Pärt, Virgil Thompson, and Aaron Copland. He has commissioned and premiered and recorded numerous pieces by living composers along with the standard classical pieces. Of note are the recordings of Copland's Appalachian Spring with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 1976 (date?) for which he won a Grammy Award; Arvo Pärt Fratres and Misere; and many of Phillip Glass' operas and symphonies including his 5th symphony which is dedictated to Davies. Lou Harrison's 3rd Symphony is also dedicated to Davies.
Davies served as Music Director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (1972-80). Together with the composer Francis Thorne he founded the American Composers Orchestra, New York in 1977 and conducted that orchestra until 2002. In 1980, he moved to Stuttgart, Germany when he became the General Music Director of the Baden-Württemberg State Opera House (1980-1987). There he premiered two Phillip Glass operas along with many standard operas with often innovative and unusual staging productions. He has worked with many directors including Robert Altman (they did Strauss's Salome in Hamburg). He has also held permanent posts with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Beethovenhalle Bonn (1987-1995), the Vienna Radio Orchestra, and the Bruckner Symphony in Linz.
Davies has also led many festival orchestras including the Aspen music festival, the Cabrillo Music Festival, the Saratoga Music Festival and he conducted The Flying Dutchman at the Bayreuth Festival as the second American to ever conduct there and one of the youngest (1978-80). Davies is a Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum.
External links
sv:Dennis Russell Davies
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