About Anthony

Opera News has called Anthony Davis, “A National Treasure,” for his pioneering work in opera.  He has also been on the cutting edge of improvised music and Jazz for over four decades. Mr. Davis has composed eight operas. X: The Life and Times of Malcom X with a libretto by Thulani Davis, had its world premiere at the New York City Opera in 1986. His fourth opera, Amistad also with a libretto by Thulani Davis premiered at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1997. A new production of the opera, directed by Sam Helfrich, debuted at the Spoleto USA Festival in Charleston, South Carolina in May, 2008. A recording of the opera was released on New World in 2008. Anthony Davis’ opera Wakonda’s Dream with a libretto by Yusef Komunyakaa had its world premiere with Opera Omaha in March 2007. His most recent opera The Central Park Five with a libretto by Richard Wesley was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2020 and was presented at Long Beach Opera in 2019.

Anthony Davis has composed numerous works for orchestra and chamber ensemble commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, St. Lukes’ Chamber Ensemble, Kansas City Symphony and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His other works include the music for the critically acclaimed Broadway production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America.

A graduate of Yale University in 1975, Mr. Davis is currently a Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego. In 2008 he received the “Lift Every Voice” Legacy Award from the National Opera Association acknowledging his pioneering work in opera. In 2006 Mr. Davis was awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.