On July 12th, Carl Davis will become an honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his contributions to music for films, theatre and dance.
Davis started his musical career by conducting for the New York City Opera and Robert Shaw Chorale before winning an OBIE Award for the off-Broadway revue Dimensions, for which he co-wrote the score. The revue then travelled to the Edinburgh Festival and to the West End.As a theatrical composer, Davis also wrote the music for productions staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Theatre, as well as for many West End shows. He composed ballet scores for A Picture of Dorian Gray, A Simple Man, A Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland, as well as collaborating with Sir Paul McCartney on Liverpool Oratorio. Davis' film and television scores include "That Was the Week that Was," "The Naked Civil Servant," "Churchill--The Wilderness Years," "A Year in Provence," Champions and Widow's Peak. He received a Thames TV Emmy Award for "The World at War," a Novello "Best Music for a Television Production" nomination for "Pride and Prejudice," and BAFTA and Novello Awards for The French Lieutenant's Woman.
In 1982, Davis (as well as restorer Kevin Brownlow) was made a Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for composing a new score for Abel Gance's 5-hour 1927 silent film epic Napoleon.
