Sir Andrew Davis has served as music director and principal conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago since 2000. In January 2013 Sir Andrew began his tenure as chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He is also conductor laureate of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (having previously served as principal conductor), conductor laureate of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (his tenure as that ensemble’s chief conductor was the longest since that of its founder Sir Adrian Boult) and former music director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

In addition to the BBC Symphony Orchestra (with which Maestro Davis has appeared at the Proms and on tour to Hong Kong, Japan, the U.S., and Europe), he has led performances of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, and every other internationally prominent orchestra. He has also triumphed not only at Lyric Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and Glyndebourne Festival Opera, but also at La Scala and the Bayreuth Festival.

Maestro Davis has documented his artistry in a massive discography on the Chandos, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Warner Classics International, Capriccio, EMI, and CBS labels, among others. Sir Andrew currently records for Chandos Records, where he has been an exclusive artist since 2009.

Sir Andrew’s recording of York Bowen’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 was nominated for a 2011 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance. In 2008 the Onyx Classics label released Elgar’s Violin Concertos, a collaboration between Sir Andrew, James Ehnes, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. This recording earned the coveted Gramophone “Best of Category – Concerto” Award).

In 1992, Maestro Davis was created a Commander of the British Empire for his services to British music. Seven years later he was made a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List. He was honored in 1991 with the Royal Philharmonic Society/Charles Heidsieck Music Award. He received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, in 2012.

Born in 1944 in Hertfordshire, England, Davis studied at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar before taking up the baton. He rapidly developed an exceptionally diverse repertoire. In addition to his outstanding affinity for the gamut of “core” symphonic and operatic music, Sir Andrew is acknowledged internationally as an extraordinary proponent of twentieth-century works including those by Janáček, Messiaen, Boulez, Elgar, Tippett, and Britten.

Maestro Davis and his wife, soprano Gianna Rolandi, reside in Chicago with their dog, Winnie (the Poodle).
Source: Official Website

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