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Eminent conductor Sir Andrew Davis has died aged 80. During his career he led many prestigious orchestras, including the Toronto and BBC Symphony Orchestras.
Davis made a significant impact on cultural life in Australia during his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra from 2013 to 2019.
Davis's illustrious career as a conductor of both orchestral music and opera spanned over half a century.
It began with a two-year tenure as an associate conductor with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in 1970.
That same year he appeared on the podium directing both the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, two of the world's most prestigious orchestras, thanks to the support of the music critic and BBC Controller of Music Sir William Glock.
Upon receiving the invitation to direct the New York Philharmonic, Davis recalled "you could have knocked me over with a feather!" during a conversation with ABC Classic's Mairi Nicolson.
From young chorister to conducting the BBC Proms
Born in Hertfordshire at the tail-end of the Second War World, the young Davis's musical sensibilities were moulded by the great English choral tradition; not only singing as a chorister in the local church choir at an early age, but also playing the church's organ regularly after his voice broke.
"My mother always said that I was singing before I was speaking," Davis said.
Eventually his love of the instrument saw him enrol at King's College, Cambridge, as an organ scholar.
Another formative musical experience was his aunt taking him on the train to London as a teenager to attend his first concerts at the BBC Proms.
There he heard Edward Elgar's oratorio "The Dream of Gerontius" conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, who would eventually coach Davis in his twenties.
During his first meeting with the famed Barbirolli, Davis said that when he was introduced as an aspiring conductor, the artist replied, "You must be mad!"
Davis later became a mainstay of one of the iconic festival's most popular events, the Last Night of the Proms.
A 'generosity of spirit' in Australia
By the time the artist took up his role as Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) in 2013, Davis had already held the same position with both the BBC and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.
He made a mark during his seven years with the MSO, producing a significant recording legacy.
His output with the orchestra spanned the music of Australian composers Percy Grainger and Eugene Goossens, all of Charles Ives's symphonies, as well as Richard Strauss's orchestral works.
"Sir Andrew's love for orchestral music was infectious. We played with him, we laughed with him, we learnt from him. And now we will miss him," said the MSO, paying tribute to Davis on social media.
Benjamin Northey, MSO's Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor — Learning and Engagement, commented that what set Davis apart was his generous, benevolent approach to music-making.
"I think his legacy will be his interactions with others, which were always so positive and impactful," Northey told ABC Classic Breakfast's Megan Burslem.
MSO violinist Monica Curro said she was struck by Davis's "generosity of spirit."
In 2020 he returned to his long-term role as music director of the Chicago Lyric Opera, which he held from 2000 until 2021.
He remained as Conductor Laureate of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra 2020–2024.
Sir Andrew Davis's Pickwickian charm and chortle to match belied a razor-ship mind and rapier wit coupled with a pragmatic professionalism that earned him more respect than he demanded.
"Sir Andrew's wish was to make things easier for musicians and that takes great kindness, a deep soul and no arrogance," said English mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, one of Davis's frequent collaborators, in The Guardian.
Those who weren't fortunate enough to witness his lithe, compact yet expressive conducting first-hand are blessed with a first-rate discography.
Nicolson observed that his recording output betrays, "his phenomenal appetite for music in the sense that his Catholic tastes spread far and wide", as well as a passion that extended to arranging works for orchestra and re-arranging others.
Davis was proud of his re-working of Handel's famous Messiah oratorio, which sported the unlikely period-inappropriate inclusion of a marimba.
"I'm a terrible ham!" Davis confessed in a 2010 interview with Nicolson before commenting:
"As musicians we are incredibly fortunate to do what we do for a living. What a fantastic gift it is to give other people performances of this extraordinary repertoire."
Sir Andrew is survived by his son, composer and choral director Edward Frazier Davis.