Colin Rex Davis was born on September 25th, 1927, in Weybridge, Surrey, England, and was known for his exceptional interpretations of a wide range of classical and contemporary repertoire. His early exposure to music was through the clarinet, which he started playing at a young age. His interest in conducting developed during his time at Christ’s Hospital School in Sussex, where he had the opportunity to conduct the school orchestra. Davis’s musical education continued at the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied clarinet, but he also showed a keen interest in conducting. His talent as a conductor became evident, and he won the conducting prize at the Royal College of Music. His early career included positions such as assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and associate conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra.

Sir Colin Davis and Convent Garden

In 1970, Sir David Webster, who ran the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet companies at Covent Garden, invited Davis to succeed Sir Georg Solti as principal conductor of the opera. Colin Davis became the musical director of the Royal Opera House in 1971, and he held this position until 1986. During his tenure, Davis made notable contributions to the opera scene and solidified his reputation as an outstanding opera conductor. He conducted a wide range of operas at Covent Garden, showcasing his versatility and expertise in the genre. Davis was particularly acclaimed for his interpretations of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi. His tenure at Covent Garden was marked by successful productions, and he played a key role in enhancing the artistic reputation of the Royal Opera House. Davis’ early months in charge at Covent Garden were marked by dissatisfaction among some of the audience, and booing was heard at a “disastrous” Nabucco in 1972. His conducting of Wagner’s Ring Cycle was at first compared unfavorably with that of his predecessor. Among his successes were Berlioz’s massive Les Troyens (with Jon Vickers and Anja Silja), Verdi’s Falstaff, the major Mozart operas, and, as one critic put it, he “confirmed his preeminence as a Britten and Stravinsky interpreter” with productions of Peter Grimes and The Rake’s Progress. Davis conducted more than 30 operas during his fifteen-year tenure, but “since people like Maazel, Abbado, and Muti would only come for new productions”, Davis yielded the baton to these foreign conductors, giving up the chance to conduct several major operas, including Der Rosenkavalier, Rigoletto, and Aida.

Bavarian Radio Symphony and London Symphony Orchestras

Colin Davis served as the chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1983 to 1992. During this period, he made substantial contributions to the orchestra’s repertoire and reputation. His tenure was marked by his interpretations of a wide range of classical and romantic works, showcasing his skill in both symphonic and operatic repertoire. He was offered but declined the music directorships of the Cleveland Orchestra in succession to Maazel and the New York Philharmonic in succession to Zubin Mehta. 

In 1995, Davis was appointed principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, the culmination of a long association with the orchestra. Davis was the longest-serving principal conductor in the history of the London Symphony Orchestra, holding the post from 1995 until 2006, after which the orchestra appointed him its President, an honor previously held only by Arthur Bliss, William Walton, Karl Böhm, and Leonard Bernstein. During his time with the London Symphony Orchestra, both as principal conductor and later as president, Davis conducted series and cycles of the music of Sibelius, Berlioz, Bruckner, Mozart, Elgar, Beethoven, and Brahms, and in 2009 began presenting a cycle of the symphonies of Carl Nielsen.

BBC and Sadler’s Wells

Sir Colin Davis had significant associations with both the BBC and Sadler’s Walls. Colin Davis began his association with the BBC as the assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and later as the associate conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra. His first breakthrough came in 1957 when, at his third attempt, he secured the post of assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra. The chief conductor of the orchestra generally chose to conduct the standard repertoire pieces himself, and left Davis with modern works and non-standard repertoire works, including those of Berlioz.

In 1960, Davis made his début at the Proms in a programme of Britten, Schumann, Mozart, and Berlioz. In the same year, he was appointed chief conductor of Sadler’s Wells Opera, and in 1961 he was made musical director of the company, with whom he built up a large repertoire of operas, conducting in London and on tour. Together with the stage director Glen Byam Shaw, he worked to present operas in a way that gave due weight to the drama as well as the music. In his early years, Davis was known as something of a firebrand with a short fuse in rehearsals, and his departure from Sadler’s Wells in 1965 was not without acrimony.