Anthony Davis (composer)

Anthony Davis (born February 20, 1951), is an American pianist and composer. He incorporates several styles including jazz, rhythm 'n' blues, gospel, non-Western, African, European classical, Indonesian gamelan, and experimental music.[1] He has played with several groups and is also professor of music at University of California, San Diego.

Davis is perhaps best known for his operas; he has been called "the dean of African-American opera composers."[2] His better known compositions include X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, which was premiered by the New York City Opera in 1986; Amistad, which premiered with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1997; and Wakonda's Dream, which premiered at Opera Omaha in 2007. His opera The Central Park Five premiered on June 15, 2019 at the Long Beach Opera Company in California. It won him a Pulitzer Prize for Music on May 4, 2020.[3][4]

Biography

Davis was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1951. He taught at Yale University and Harvard University. He also wrote the incidental music for the Broadway version of Tony Kushner's Angels in America.

Davis has received acclaim as a free-jazz pianist, a co-leader or sideman with various ensembles. Such ensembles include those that featured Smith as bandleader from 1974 to 1977. He has played with Anthony Braxton and Leo Smith. In 1981, Davis formed an octet called Episteme.

Davis is professor of music at the University of California, San Diego. Many of his operas have explored people and events from African-American history. In 1997 his opera Amistad, with a libretto by his cousin Thulani Davis, premiered at the Chicago Lyric Opera. Its ambition was recognized but the production received mixed reviews. It was accepted for a production in 2008 at Spoleto Festival USA. It underwent a major revision and the production was highly praised. Opera Today said that Amistad was

"much leaner, more focused and dramatically far more effective than the original. And in so doing they [the Davises] created not only a masterpiece of American opera, but further a work that — against a contemporary horizon darkened by undercurrents of racism — resonates today far beyond Memminger and Spoleto USA."[5]

Davis has also explored other ethnic history. His opera Wakonda's Dream (2007), with a libretto by Yusef Komunyakaa, is a tale of a contemporary Native American Ponca family in Nebraska and the history that affects them.

His opera Lilith (libretto by Allan Havis) had its world premiere at the Conrad Prebys Music Center at UCSD on December 4, 2009. The story is about the demon figure of Jewish mythology who was sometimes said to be biblical Adam's first wife. It is set in a modern era.

He began working on the music for the opera The Central Park Five in 2014. An early version, titled Five, was performed in Newark, New Jersey in 2016 by the Trilogy Company.[2] The librettist for both the early and final versions was playwright Richard Wesley. The Central Park Five premiered on June 15, 2019 in a production by the Long Beach Opera Company in San Pedro, California.[6] In 2020 the work won him the Pulitzer Prize for Music[4]. He commented, "it’s also very exciting for me that you can create political work that has an impact and speak to issues in our society. I’ve done my career creating political works, and I never thought I would ever get a Pulitzer."[7]

Works

Orchestral
  • Wayang V (Piano Concerto, 1984)
  • Maps (Violin Concerto, 1988)

(These two works were released on Gramavision 18-8807-1, a 12" long playing record, with Davis as soloist in the piano concerto and dedicatee Shem Guibbory as soloist in the violin concerto. In each, the William McGlaughlin led the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra.)

Stage
  • X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X (1986), libretto by Thulani Davis
  • Under the Double Moon (1989), libretto by Deborah Atherton
  • Tania (1992), with libretto by Michael John LaChiusa, about Patricia Hearst and events following her kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army
  • Amistad (1997/revised 2008),[5] with libretto by Thulani Davis, about a case of an 1839 slave mutiny on a Spanish ship that reached the US Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the Mende, freeing them[8]
  • Wakonda's Dream (2007), with libretto by Yusef Komunyakaa, about a contemporary Ponca family in Nebraska, and the spiritual journey of their son
  • Lilith (2009), with libretto by Allan Havis, explores a figure from Jewish mythology, sometimes said to be Adam's first wife, set in modern times
  • Lear on the 2nd Floor (2012), with libretto by Allan Havis, shifts the story of King Lear to feature a woman neuroscience researcher who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, and her relationships with her three daughters and her late husband Mortimer, the Fool.
  • The Central Park Five (2019), with libretto by Richard Wesley. It premiered on June 15, 2019 by the Long Beach Opera Company in California.[6]

Discography

As leader/co-leader
  • 1978: Past Lives (VPA)
  • 1978: Of Blues and Dreams (Sackville)
  • 1978: Song for the Old World (India Navigation)
  • 1979: Hidden Voices (India Navigation) - with James Newton
  • 1980: Lady of the Mirrors (India Navigation)
  • 1980: Under the Double Moon (MPS) - with Jay Hoggard
  • 1981: Epistēmē (Gramavision)
  • 1982: I've Known Rivers (Gramavision)
  • 1982: Variations in Dream-Time (India Navigation)
  • 1983: Hemispheres (Gramavision)
  • 1984: Middle Passage (Gramavision)
  • 1985: Return from Space (Wonder Nonfiction) (Gramavision)
  • 1986: Undine (Gramavision)
  • 1988: Ghost Factory (Gramavision)
  • 1990: Trio, Vol. 2 (Gramavision)
  • 1989: Trio, Vol. 1 (Rhino)
  • 1993: Lost Moon Sisters/In Dora Ohrenstein's Urban Diva
  • 1992: X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (Gramavision)
  • 2001: Tania (Koch)
  • 2008: Amistad (New World)

As sideman

With Barry Altschul

  • For Stu (Soul Note, 1979)

With Ray Anderson

With Anthony Braxton

With Marion Brown

With Chico Freeman

With Jay Hoggard

  • Mystic Winds, Tropical Breezes (India Navigation, 1982)

With Leroy Jenkins

With George Lewis

With Bobby Previte

With David Murray

With Wadada Leo Smith

References
  1. AllMusic
  2. Cooper, Michael (30 May 2019). "This Summer, Opera Grapples With Race". New York Times. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  3. The Central Park Five, by Anthony Davis - The Pulitzer Prizes
  4. 'Central Park Five' composer Anthony Davis wins the Pulitzer Prize for Music - Yahoo News
  5. "Revised Amistad makes its mark", Opera Today, May 2008; accessed 25 June 2019
  6. Midgette, Anne (23 June 2019). "'The Central Park Five' in song: Composer Anthony Davis on his new opera". The Mercury News. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  7. Varga, George (May 5, 2020). "UCSD professor Anthony Davis wins Pulitzer Prize for fiery opera 'The Central Park Five'". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  8. Page, Tim (1 December 1997). "'AMISTAD' MISSES THE BOAT". Washington Post. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
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