Carl Davis

Widely known in many spheres of international music-making * Studied composition with Paul Nordoff, Hugo Kauder, and Per Nørgaard in Copenhagen * Enormously successful in the world of theatre, composing scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre * Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet commissioned A Picture of Dorian Gray in 1987, followed by commissions from Northern Ballet Theatre * Most recent full-length ballet, commissioned by the English National Ballet based on themes by Tchaikovsky * Output for film and television includes The World At War, The Rainbow, The French Lieutenant's Woman (the winner of both the BAFTA and Ivor Novello awards), and Pride and Prejudice (nominated for a BASCA Ivor Novello award for Best Music For a Television Production in 1996) * 1980 score for Abel Gance's silent film Napoleon triggered an extraordinary revival of interest in the film * Most recent symphonic work, A Circle of Stones, consists of four symphonic pictures for orchestra and was written for Mike Mansfield Publications for broadcast on S4C in 1997

"Carl Davis has made an astonishing impact on music in Britain. He has performed an integral role in the reappraisal of silent film classics, the raising to hitherto unheard of standards of the once humble television theme tune, and now as a conductor/ composer in the world of symphonic music." -- Musical Opinion