19 & 21 April programme PDF - London Symphony Orchestra

Sir Colin Davis
Conductor
‘Whenever Colin Davis
conducts … the effect is
serene. There’s a palpable
sense of direction.’
Martin Kettle on Sir Colin Davis & the LSO
The Guardian, December 2011
President of the London Symphony
Orchestra since 2006, and before that
Principal Conductor from 1995, Sir Colin
Davis performs regularly with the LSO at
the Barbican and on tour, and features on
many LSO Live recordings. He is Honorary
Conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle and
appears regularly at the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden. 2010 saw Sir Colin made
Conductor Emeritus of the English Chamber
Orchestra.
A highlight of Sir Colin’s 2011/12 season
was the completion last December of his
widely acclaimed Nielsen Symphonies Cycle
and Beethoven Piano Concerto series with
Mitsuko Uchida and the LSO. For the 2010/11
season, Sir Colin began in Dresden where
he conducted the Dresden Staatskapelle,
before spending the autumn in London
working with the LSO. He visited the New
York Philharmonic to perform Mahler’s Des
Knaben Wunderhorn with Ian Bostridge and
Dorothea Röschmann, before returning to the
Royal Opera House for Mozart’s The Magic
Flute. He also spent July with the LSO in
Aix-en-Provence where they performed
Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. Sir Colin
conducted two BBC Proms concerts last
summer: one with the Gustav Mahler Youth
Orchestra and the other with the LSO,
performing Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.
Sir Colin Davis has recorded widely with
Philips, BMG and Erato. His LSO Live disc of
Walton’s Symphony No 1 and Belshazzar’s
Feast with the LSO was released in February,
following Nielsen’s Symphonies Nos 4 and 5
and Verdi’s Otello (nominated for a 2011
Gramophone award in the Opera category).
Beethoven’s Mass in C, Haydn’s The Creation
and a boxed set of Sibelius’ Symphonies Nos
1–7 and Kullervo were released last season.
During his career Sir Colin conducted the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, moving
to Sadler’s Wells Opera House in 1959. He
spent 1967–71 as Chief Conductor of the BBC
Symphony Orchestra, became Music Director
of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in
1971 and Principal Guest Conductor of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1972. He spent
1983–92 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.
Sir Colin has been awarded international
honours by Italy, France, Germany and
Finland. He was named a Member of the
Order of the Companions of Honour in the
Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2001. Sir Colin’s
recording of Sibelius’ Kullervo Symphony
received a BBC Music Magazine Award in
2007. He received The Queen’s Medal for
Music in December 2009 and an Honorary
Doctorate for Music from Cambridge
University in 2011.
10 The Artists Sir Colin Davis © Gautier Deblonde