One of the leading English conductors from the late 20th and early 21st centuries,
Andrew Davis has conducted symphonic and operatic repertory with equal distinction and received praise for his performances of the music of British composers, particularly the works of
Vaughan Williams,
Elgar, and especially
Michael Tippett.
Davis is the conductor laureate of the
Toronto,
BBC, and
Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.
Davis was born on February 2, 1944, in Ashridge, Hertfordshire, England. He took to the keyboard early on, and his first serious studies came with his enrollment at the Royal College of Music in London, followed by further instruction at King's College, Cambridge, where he excelled in organ performance and scholarship. The young
Davis was gradually drawn toward conducting, studying with
Franco Ferrara at Rome's Academy of St. Cecilia. His first major position came in 1970 when he was appointed associate conductor of the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for two years.
Davis' ascent toward international recognition came quickly in the years that followed: he became the principal guest conductor of the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in 1974 and the following year was appointed music director of the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra. During his 13-year tenure in Toronto,
Davis led many successful tours abroad and made a series of celebrated recordings, including those of Handel's Messiah with soloists
Florence Quivar,
Kathleen Battle, and
Samuel Ramey, and
Janácek's Taras Bulba and The Cunning Little Vixen Suite. When he left the
Toronto Symphony in 1988, it is generally agreed that
Davis had noticeably improved the ensemble and greatly enhanced its international reputation. He became the conductor laureate of the
Toronto Symphony when he stepped down.
In 1988,
Davis accepted the directorship of the
Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The following year,
Davis married soprano
Gianna Rolandi, to whom he was married until her death in 2021; the couple had one son, Edward, born in 1989. That year,
Davis was appointed chief conductor of the
BBC Symphony Orchestra. With the
BBC Symphony, he led successful tours abroad, including to Hong Kong, the U.S., and three excursions to Japan.
Davis' recordings with the
BBC Symphony included a variety of works from various periods, but among contemporary composers, he tended to favor the British, issuing recordings of compositions by
Harrison Birtwistle (
The Mask of Orpheus),
David Sawer (
Byrnan Wood), and others. In the 1990s,
Davis also gave concerts and made recordings with the
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the
London Symphony Orchestra, the
Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and several others. In addition, he conducted operatic performances at the
Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the
Bavarian State Opera, where his rendition of
Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes was critically acclaimed.
In 1999,
Davis was knighted, and in 2000, he departed his
BBC Symphony Orchestra and
Glyndebourne posts. He then accepted the appointment of music director and principal conductor of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Davis' performances in Chicago included
Wagner's Ring Cycle,
Massenet's Thaïs (with
Renée Fleming), and
Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage. During this time,
Davis was heard on a number of recordings, including
The Very Best of Thomas Hampson (2005), The Last Night of the Proms (2008), and 100 Best Tenor Arias (2009).
Davis was the chief conductor of the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra from 2013 until 2019, leading that group in a three-volume series of the orchestral works of
Charles Ives. He has served as conductor laureate for the
BBC Symphony and
Melbourne Symphony since leaving his chief conductor posts. In 2016,
Davis led the
Toronto Symphony on a recording of his arrangement of Handel's Messiah on Chandos.
Davis recorded prolifically throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s as an exclusive artist with Chandos; among these recordings is a survey of
Eugene Goossens' orchestral works with the
Melbourne Symphony, the third volume of which was issued in 2020. That year, he was also heard on a performance of Massenet's Thais, leading the
Toronto Symphony. His tenure with the Lyric Opera concluded in 2021, and he was succeeded by
Enrique Mazzola. That year,
Davis conducted the
London Symphony on a recording of
Robert Simpson's Symphony No. 5. ~ TiVo Staff