| Dennis Russell Davies |
 Dennis Russell Davies is a native of Toledo, Ohio. He studied piano and conducting at The Juilliard School of Music. He began his career as Chief Conductor of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (1972-1980) and the American Composers Orchestra, New York (1977-2002). He was one of the founders of the American Composers Orchestra. In 1980, Maestro Davies immigrated to Europe, moving first to Germany and later to Austria. Once in Europe, Maestro Davies established himself as one of the leading conductors of his era. He became the General Music Director of the State Theater in Stuttgart (1980-1987), followed by his appointment as the General Music Director of the City of Bonn, which encompassed the Beethovenhalle Orchestra Bonn, the Opera, and the International Beethovenfest (1987-1995). He returned to Stuttgart in 1995 as the conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, a position he held until 2006. In 1997, Dennis Russell Davies added the positions of Chief Conductor with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna and as Professor of Conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg to his credentials. During his tenure in Stuttgart, Maestro Davies recorded the complete 107 Symphonies by Franz Joseph Haydn; it took him 11 years to accomplish this remarkable feat. To this day, these recordings hold the distinction of being only the third complete edition of Haydn’s Symphonies worldwide. In 2009, Maestro Davies was appointed Chief Conductor of the Sinfonieorchester Basel, in Switzerland. In 2002 Dennis Russell Davies became the Chief Conductor of the Bruckner Orchester and the Opera Director of the Landestheater Linz. He and the orchestra have extended their devotion to Bruckner’s music to include a wide range of international composers with a significant focus on new works. Highly respected in the US, Maestro Davies has returned to his country to conduct performances with the Symphony Orchestras of Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Cleveland. He is a frequent guest conductor with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Filarmonica della Scala Milano, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam. Maestro Davies leads several new opera and ballet productions at the Linz Opera each season. Further operatic performances have taken him to such legendary venues as the Bayreuther Festspiele and the Salzburger Festspiele, the Lincoln Center Festival in New York, Houston Grand Opera, the Staatstheater Hamburg and Nationaltheater Munich. He has collaborated with distinguished opera directors including Harry Kupfer, Götz Friedrich, Achim Freyer, Peter Zadek, Robert Altmann, Juri Ljubimov, Olivier Tambosi, Robert Wilson and Ken Russell. His most recent operatic successes have been at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Metropolitan Opera New York, and the Opéra National de Paris. |
