The Great Gatsby Ballet

Born in New York in 1936, Carl Davis studied composition with Paul Nordoff and Hugo Kauder, and subsequently with Per Nørgård in Copenhagen. His early work in the USA provided valuable conducting experience with organizations such as New York City Opera and the Robert Shaw Chorale. In 1959 the revue Diversions, of which he was co-author, won an Off-Broadway Emmy and subsequently travelled to the 1961 Edinburgh Festival. As a direct result of its success there, Davis was commissioned by Ned Sherrin to write music for That Was The Week That Was. Other radio and TV commissions followed and Davis’s UK career was launched. He moved to London in 1961 and soon found himself at the heart of England’s theatre, television, and film scene with scores for the National Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare Company, the television series The World at War, Hollywood, Goodnight Mister Tom and the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice. Following on from his work on Thames Television’s Hollywood series, he created a score for Abel Gance’s epic film Napoleon, a performance so unique it stimulated a global revival of silent film performance with live orchestra. He has written or reconstructed scores for over 50 silent films ranging from Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton to DW Griffiths’ masterpiece Intolerance.