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dennis russell davies A masterful and innovative force in classical music, American Dennis Russell Davies is considered among today’s most inventive conductors at the forefront of the orchestral, chamber and operatic worlds. A modern, articulate and versatile artist revered for his command of both traditional and contemporary music, Davies is also recognized as an accomplished pianist and as an acclaimed collaborator, sought out by orchestras, composers and artists alike for his interpretive skills. Davies was Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music for seventeen years. He has lived abroad since 1980, but maintains an active presence on the North American music scene as a regular guest conductor with the major orchestras and opera houses of New York and Chicago. In addition to his ongoing duties as Chief Conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum, this season Davies begins his post as Chief Conductor of the Linz Opera and Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. In January 2002, he was appointed to a 5-year term to the Board of Directors of the esteemed Fromm Music Foundation. A champion of contemporary music, his support of modern works, particularly American, is legendary. From his affiliations with some of the 21st century’s greatest composers, including Luciano Berio, William Bolcolm, John Cage, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, and Hans Werner Henze, to his extensive collaborations with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Keith Jarrett, Cab Calloway and Jan Garbarek, Dennis Russell Davies has been and continues to be an important catalyst in enriching concert and operatic repertory in general. He was Music Director/Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music for seventeen years. Following a summer season which included performing with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival and at Germany’s European Music Festival Passau (opening concert); with the Stuggart Chamber Orchestra at Germany’s Dreiklang Festival and Ruhr Klavierfestival, and concerts with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Dennis Russell Davies’ 2002-03 season takes him worldwide, with engagements in Greece, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Switzerland, Spain, France and the United States. While the majority of Davies’ engagements this 2002-03 season afford international audiences numerous occasions to hear him in concert, American audiences are presented with many opportunities to hear him in significant operatic and orchestral performances. In December 2002, Davies conducted Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge at the Metropolitan Opera in its New York premiere, and in March 2003 tours the United States with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in an 11 state tour (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida), with performances in 20 cities including stops at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, New York’s Carnegie Hall, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (in a special all-Glass program), and Florida’s Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. The Stuttgart tour includes the world and U.S. premieres of William Bolcolm’s Medusa, and the U.S. premiere of Glass’ In the Upper Room (with mimes). In addition to his ongoing duties as Chief Conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Linz Opera, and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Davies will guest-conduct the Opera National de Paris in its spring 2003 production of Philippe Manoury’s K... at the Bastille (April/May). Other noteworthy performances include Bernsteins’ West Side Story at Greece’s Athens Festival and Germany’s Ludwigsburg Festival in September 2002 with the Linz Opera and Bruckner Orchestra Linz; the European premiere of Glass’ The Voyage with the Linz Opera in October 2002; and with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the fifth year of a ten-year project of performing and recording all 107 Haydn Symphonies in partnership with Mercedes-Benz. Recently, Davies concluded his tenures as Chief Conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (1996-2002), and as Music Director of the pre-eminent American Composers Orchestra (1975-2002). He continues his affiliation with the American Composers Orchestra, which he co-founded 25 years ago, as Conductor Laureate. Davies has had successful tenures as the General Music Director of the City of Bonn (Germany), Principal Conductor/Classical Music Program Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Principal Conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. In addition to his North American orchestral guest conducting appearances, Davies has guest conducted some of the most prestigious orchestras in Europe including the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. During Davies' extensive opera career, he has been the music director/conductor for many important productions. They include: The Flying Dutchman, Harry Kupfer director, Bayreuth 1978; The Marriage of Figaro, Peter Zadek director, Stuttgart 1983; Der Freischutz, Achim Freyer director, Stuttgart 1980; Satyagraha, Achim Freyer director, Stuttgart 1981; Akhnaton, Achim Freyer director, Stuttgart 1984; Fidelio, Yuri Lubimov director, Stuttgart 1986; Lulu, Yuri Lubimov director, Chicago 1987 and Willy Decker director, Paris 1998 (named the "Grand Prix of Theatre and Music Critics Union - Best Opera Performance of the Year"); Four Saints in Three Acts, Robert Wilson director, Houston, 1996; The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Peter Zadek director, Salzburg, 1998; White Raven, Robert Wilson director, Lisbon, 1998 and Lincoln Center Festival New York, 2001; and A View from the Bridge, Frank Galati director, Chicago, 1999. Davies' tenure as Generalmusikdirektor of the Stuttgart Opera, from 1980 to 1987, is regarded as one of the most significant periods in that theater's distinguished history. In addition to conducting highly regarded and sometimes even controversial productions of the standard repertory by Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Wagner, Verdi and Puccini, Davies solidified the Stuttgart Opera's reputation for adventurous programming by introducing several premieres on this stage. Such works include Hans Werner Henze's The English Cat, Philip Glass' Akhnaten, and William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience. His diverse repertory is testimony to his commitment to the artistic growth and development of not only each organization he has led, but also the living composers with whom he has collaborated. Davies' prolific recordings, as conductor as well as pianist, number well over 60 and having received numerous awards, can be found on many labels. His recording diversity extends from Mozart, Schubert, Bizet and Satie, to Shostakovich, Glass and Kancheli, to name a few. New World Records has just released the Bolcom opera, A View from the Bridge, from world premiere live performances at the Chicago Lyric Opera conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. His newest releases include a recording of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 with the Bruckner Orchester Linz; with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hans Rott’s Symphony in E Major and Pastorales Vorspiel on the CPO label; and on the ECM label Flux, an all Erkki-Sven Tüür recording. Also current is John Cage’s The Seasons with the American Composers Orchestra, which won the Japan Record Academy Awards 2000 first prize in the "Best Contemporary Music" category. On Nonesuch, he has recorded many works of Philip Glass, including Symphonies No. 2, 3 and 5. Dennis Russell Davies was born in Toledo, Ohio, and graduated from The Juilliard School where he studied piano with Lonny Epstein and Sasha Gorodnitski and conducting with Jean Morel and Jorge Mester.
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