MAXWELL DAVIES, PETER  BIOGRAPHY

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is universally acknowledged as one of the foremost composers of our time. He lives in the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland where he writes most of his music.

In a worklist that spans many decades, he has written across the widest gamut of musical genre and in many styles. His major works to date include eight symphonies, fifteen concertos, light orchestral works, operas Taverner and The Lighthouse, ballet Caroline Mathilde, music-theatre works including Eight Songs for a Mad King, oratorio Job and the Naxos Quartets cycle [8.557396, 8.557397, 8.557398, 8.557399, 8.557400].

Maxwell Davies is also internationally active as a conductor, having held the position of Composer/Conductor with the Royal Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as having guest-conducted orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Philharmonia Orchestra. He retains close links with the St Magnus Festival, which he founded in 1977, is Composer Laureate of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and was appointed Master of the Queen’s Music in 2004, in which rôle he seeks to raise the profile of music in Great Britain and composes many works for Her Majesty the Queen.

Interview with Peter Maxwell Davies.