Richard Davis

Richard Davis is presently Chief Conductor and Head of Orchestral Studies at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He regularly conducts orchestras, such as Queensland Symphony and BBC Philharmonic, in concerts, recordings, national radio broadcasts and on television. Richard Davis has also directed operas and requiem masses with the BBC Singers and has just been invited to make his debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

He is known for his wide-ranging repertoire, allowing him to conduct projects across many genres – from television soundtracks and Family Concerts to recording avant-garde world premieres and performing the symphonies of Shostakovich and Mahler.

Richard Davis is also in great demand, conducting the top professional orchestras, at major rock-events with chart-topping groups such as The 1975 and Clean Bandit. The former recently won the BBC Music Award for ‘Best Live Performance of 2016′ and the latter was subsequently made into a Warner Music CD and DVD – New Eyes (special edition) that stayed in the top 40 UK Album Charts for months.

In 2010, Richard Davis stepped into an indisposed conductor’s shoes and conducted BBC Philharmonic with only a few hours’ notice. The live broadcasted concert resulted in praise from the press – being described as ‘an exemplary conductor’ in Ariel Magazine.

Richard Davis is also known as a flute player – having played as principal flute with the BBC Philharmonic for over 30 years. He premiered flute concertos by Bernstein and Maxwell-Davies, recorded and performed solo recitals many times on national and international broadcasts and won 1st prize in several international competitions.

Richard Davis is the author of: Becoming an Orchestral Musician – A Guide for Aspiring Professionals, which sells world-wide and has been described as ‘an unbeatable-value master class’ (Classical Music Magazine) offering a ‘down-to-earth, informative introduction to life as a professional musician’ (Daily Telegraph).