Davis, Colin Rex (1927- )

English conductor. He was musical director at Sadler's Wells 1961-65, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra 1967-71, musical director of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, 1971-86, chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra 1986-92, and principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1995. He is particularly associated with the music of Berlioz, Mozart, and Michael Tippett.

Davis studied at the Royal College of Music, London. He was the first Briton to conduct at Bayreuth, Germany (Tannhäuser, 1977). He also conducted the first performances of Tippett's The Knot Garden (1970), The Ice Break (1977), and The Mask of Time (1984). He was knighted in 1980.