Universally acknowledged as one of the foremost composers of our time, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has made a significant contribution to musical history through his wide-ranging and prolific output. He lives in the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland, where he writes most of his music. In a catalogue that spans more than five decades, he has written across a broad range of styles, yet his music always communicates directly and powerfully, whether in his profoundly argued symphonic works, his musical-theater works or witty light orchestral works.

Maxwell Davies was knighted in 1987 and appointed Master of the Queen’s Music in 2004, in which role he seeks to raise the profile of music in Great Britain, in addition to writing many works for the Queen and for royal occasions.

Davies studied composition at New Jersey’s Princeton University with Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt and Earl Kim. While at Princeton, he embarked on the text for his first opera Taverner, whose composition occupied much of the middle and late 1960s. He wrote Veni Sancte Spiritus for the Princeton choir to celebrate the tercentenary of the State of New Jersey in 1964.

LEARN MORE:

Hear selected audio clips from his work.

Listen to podcast interviews with Davies.

Read Davies’ answers to the four most common questions he’s asked about composing.

Question 1  |  Question 2  |  Question 3  |  Question 4