Dennis Russell Davies

American conductor and pianist Dennis Russell Davies (born in Toledo, Ohio in 1944) has been a distinct figure in classical music for half a century, having held principal positions with orchestras, opera houses and festivals the world over, including the Beethovenhalle Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, State Opera Stuttgart, Bonn Opera, American Composers’ Orchestra, St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Norwalk Symphony Orchestra and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. His association with ECM goes back to the 70s and his many recordings for the label range from performances including Arvo Pärt’s historical Tabula Rasa album, to the music of Stravinsky, Cage, Kancheli, Schnittke, and Silvestrov. Among his many collaborators over the years on the label is Keith Jarrett, who he first worked with in a performance of Carla Bley’s piece ¾, in 1974. Russell Davies would subsequently conduct Jarrett’s Arbour Zena music on tour, record Jarrett’s solo piano composition Ritual (recorded in 1977 and first released in 1982) and direct the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in Jarrett’s acclaimed recordings of the Mozart concertos, captured between 1994-1996. Jarrett's performances of Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto op. 38 and Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto no. 3, recorded in 1984 and 1985 in Saarbrücken and Tokyo, were also conducted by Russell Davies. He is currently Chief Conductor of the Filharmonie Brno and the MDR-Sinfonieorchester in Leipzig.