Davies, Dennis Russell (1944– )

American conductor. He studied at Juilliard and founded the Juilliard Ensemble, with Berio; in 1970 he conducted the first performance of Berio's Opera, at Santa Fe. He was musical director of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra 1973–80. He made his Bayreuth debut in 1978 with Der fliegende Holländer, and led the Württemberg Staatsoper, in Stuttgart, from 1980. He has conducted the first performances of works by Cage, Carter, and Feldman, and in 1984, in Stuttgart, gave the first performance of Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and Experience. His opera premieres include Henze's English Cat (1983), Glass's Akhnaten (1984), Henze's König Hirsch (the original version, 1985), and Bolcom's McTeague (in Chicago, 1992).