Sir Colin Davis

President, London Symphony Orchestra; Conductor Laureate, Dresden Staatskapelle
Conductors

• Manager: Ronald A. Wilford
  Management Territory: Worldwide

The chemistry was potent on Wednesday night when Mr. Davis and the London Symphony opened the season of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers, playing two late works of Mozart at Avery Fisher Hall…..Mr. Davis achieved sublimity in this deceptively simple work. (Mozart Piano Concerto No.27, soloist, Imogen Cooper). —Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, October 19, 2007

Still, when Mr. Davis conducts the London symphony, the results are almost always extraordinary…..”The Creation” (Haydn)….emerged in all its awesome glory....For all the depth and richness of this performance, Mr. Davis conveyed the work’s sweetness and whimsy equally well. —Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, October 23, 2007

L’Enfance du Christ…(Berlioz)…is often regarded as an uncharacteristic piece.... Colin Davis’s extraordinary rapport with Berlioz’s idiom was evident as much in the lucid tone he drew from every instrumental department as in his feeling for the music’s mood and flow….But in re-affirming how much freshness of imagination there is in this most restrained of Berlioz’s masterpieces, the evening belonged to Davis. —George Hall, Guardian, December 7, 2006

About

Sir Colin Davis is President of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and is also Honorary Conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle. This past June he celebrated his 50th anniversary with the LSO conducting two concerts of Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart.

He appears regularly with the LSO in London and on tours, Dresden Staatskapelle, Bayerische Rundfunk, Orchestra National de France, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English Chamber Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic.

Sir Colin has recorded widely with Phillips, BMG and . . . Erato. His recent releases with LSO Live are Beethoven's Mass in C, Hadyn's The Creation and a boxed set of Sibelius' Symphonies 1-7 and Kullervo Symphony.

During his career he has conducted the BBC Scottish Orchestra, moved on to Sadler's Wells Opera House in 1959 and spent four years as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1967-1971). He became Music Director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 1971 and also Principal Guest Condcutor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1972. Sir Colin spent the years 1983-1992 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, was Principal Guest Conductor of the New York Philharmonic from 1998-2003 and has been Honorary Conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle since 1990. He was Principal Conductor of the LSO from 1995-2006 and has been President of the LSO since 2007.

Sir Colin has been awarded international honors by Italy, France, Germany and Finland. Sir Colin's recording of Sibelius' Kullervo Symphony received a BBC Music Magazine Award in April 2007 and he was given the Yehudi Menuhin Prize for working with young people by the Queen of Spain in 2003.

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