Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies’ activities as opera and orchestral conductor, and as pianist and chamber musician, are characterized by an extensive repertory stretching from Baroque to the latest music of our time. Widely considered to be one of the most innovative and adventurous conductors/programmers in the classical music world, Davies has successfully challenged and inspired audiences on both sides of the Atlantic as well as in Japan. He is noted for exciting, well-structured concerts and for his close working relationships with such varied composers as Luciano Berio, William Bolcom, John Cage, Philip Glass, and Manfred Trojahn.
After his appointments as music director and principal conductor in the United States, he ventured to Europe where he built a great career as music director in renowned houses, including the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Opera Bonn, Beethovenorchester Bonn, Wiener Rundfunksymfonieorchester, Stuttgartkammerorchester and Sinfonieorchester Basel. In 2013, after a long period of success as Principal Conductor of the Landestheater Linz and the Bruckner Orchester Linz, he opened the new Musiktheater Linzer, where he conducted the world premiere of Philip Glass/Peter Handke's Spuren der Verirrten and Strauss' Rosenkavalier. Since 2018 Dennis Russell Davies has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Brno Philharmonic, with whom he has made several recordings and performed in Germany, Austria and at the Prague Spring Festival. In 2020 he began his tenure as Principal Conductor of the mdr Sinfonieorchester Leipzig. He also makes appearances in the US and Europe.
Davies, born in Ohio in 1944, studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School in New York. From 1997 to 2012 he was Professor of Conducting at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg; since September 2020 he has been Visiting Professor at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. Since 2009, Dennis Russell Davies has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been awarded the German "Bundesverdienstkreuz", the Austrian "Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst", and the title of "Commandeur des Arts et Lettres" by the French government. Dennis Russell Davies' rich discography includes complete recordings of symphonies by Anton Brucknern, Philip Glass,... and others with his wife, Maki Namekawa.