Sir Andrew Davis & Deniz Uzun

One of today’s most recognized and acclaimed conductors, Sir Andrew Davis’s career spans over fifty years in which he has been the artistic leader at several of the world’s most distinguished opera and symphonic institutions, including Lyric Opera of Chicago (Music Director Emeritus and Music Director/Principal Conductor from 2000-2021), the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Conductor Laureate and Chief Conductor from 1989-2000, the longest tenure since that of its founder Sir Adrian Boult), Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Music Director 1988-2000), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Conductor Laureate and Chief Conductor from 2013-2019), and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Conductor Laureate and Principal Conductor from 1975-1988), where he also served as Interim Artistic Director through 2020. In addition, he holds the honorary title of Conductor Emeritus from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Andrew has led performances at many of the world’s most important opera houses, among them the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Bayreuth Festival, and the major companies of Munich, Paris, San Francisco, and Santa Fe. In addition to those ensembles, he has appeared with virtually every other internationally prominent orchestra, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and all the major British orchestras.

In the 2022/23 season, Sir Andrew conducts his own adaptation of Handel’s Messiah with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The season also sees a return to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he leads a production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. Other engagements include the Minnesota Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Detroit Opera.

A vast and award-winning discography documents Sir Andrew’s artistry. 2022 saw the release of his recording of Berg’s Violin Concerto/Three Pieces for Orchestra with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which includes Sir Andrew’s orchestrations of Piano Sonata, Op. 1 and Passacaglia, as well as his recording of orchestral works of Carl Vine with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (winner of the 2022 ARIA award for Best Classical Album). Other recent titles include the works of Berlioz, Bliss, Elgar (winner of the 2018 Diapason d’Or de l’Année – Musique Symphonique), Finzi, Goossens, Grainger, Delius, Ives, Holst, Handel (nominated for a GRAMMY in 2018 for Best Choral Performance), Massenet (winner of the 2021 JUNO Award for Best Classical Album: Vocal or Choral), and York Bowen (nominated for a GRAMMY in 2012 for Best Orchestral Performance). His lauded recordings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus celebrating British composers from Teldec’s The British Line series was recently released as a 16-CD retrospective collection by Warner Classics. Sir Andrew currently records for Chandos Records, where he has been an exclusive artist since 2009.

Born in 1944 in Hertfordshire, England, Maestro Davis studied at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar before taking up conducting. His diverse repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary, and spans the symphonic, operatic, and choral worlds. Sir Andrew is a great proponent of twentieth-century works including those by Janáček, Messiaen, Boulez, Elgar, Tippett, and Britten, in addition to the core symphonic and operatic works. As chief conductor, Sir Andrew has always participated in the creation and premieres of new repertoire and new compositions, personally conducting a great number of them.

In 1992, Maestro Davis was created a Commander of the British Empire, and in 1999 he was designated a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.

Deniz Uzun comes from Mannheim, Germany and Izmir, Turkey.
She has been a proud member of the ensemble at Opernhaus Zurich since 2016/17, where she was seen and heard in title roles such as Hansel/Hansel and Gretel, The Child/L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Zelim/La Verita in Cimento, Jacob/Gold!, Ronja/Ronja the Robber s Daughter, and roles such as Lucilla/Scala di Sieta, Ino/Semele, Sonetka/Lady Macebeth from Mzensk, Alisa/Lucia di Lammermoor, Page/ Salome, Krista/Macropulos Case and with Russian and Georgian songs in the ballet Anna Karenina. As part of the Zurich Opera House’s alternative program due to the pandemic, she also gave three recitals with Yulia Levin in the 2020/21 season titled Opera goes Folk and participated at the prestigious Salzburger Festspiele as the Third Maid/Elektra conducted by Welser-Most and staged by Krzystof Warlikowski. 2021/22 season includes role and house debuts such as Dido/Dido and Aeneas at Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Olga/Eugene Onegin at Komische Oper Berlin and with Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fabio Luisi, concert version of Zanetto (Mascagni) in Zurich and Lugano and Carmen at Landestheater Salzburg.
In the 2022/23 season Deniz will be seen and heard as an ensemble member at Komische Oper Berlin as Una Donna/Intolleranza, Dorabella/Cosi fan Tutte, Meg Page/Falstaff, Third Lady/ Die Zauberflote and she will return to Opernhaus Zurich as Luigia/Viva La Mamma. She will make her role and house debut at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genua as Orlofsky/Die Fledermaus and as Waltraute/Gotterdammerung at Mupa Budapest.
She has appeared as a guest at the Baden-Baden and the Munich Opera Festival, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg and Salzburger Festspiele, Dallas Symphony and Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Jurmala Music Festival in Latvia and in Tel-Aviv with the Ballet Zurich. Deniz Uzun is a prize winner of numerous national and international competitions such as German Federal Singing Competition in Berlin, Metropolitan National Council Audition, Hans-Gabor- Belvedere Competition and Tenor Vinas Competition.
Deniz gained her first success in 2015/16 as Florence Pike/Albert Herring as a member of the Young Artist Program at Bayerische Staatsoper after she studied vocal performance at University of Music Mannheim and at Jacobs School of Music where she sang Isabella/L’Italiana in Algeri and Ruggiero/Alcina in 2014/15. She was supported throughout her studies from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Georgina Joshi Foundation. In the course of her career Deniz has worked with conductors such as Fabio Luisi, Marco Armiliato, William Christie, Tomáš Hanus, Jakup Hrůša, Vladimir Jurovski, Gianandrea Noseda, Kirill Petrenko, Vasily Petrenko, Nello Santi, Markus Poschner, Simone Young and Franz Welser-Most, as well as with directors; Calixto Bieito, Robert Carsen, Jan Essinger, Andreas Homoki, Barrie Kosky, Nina Russi, Dmitri Tscherniakov and Krzysztof Warlikowski.

With round about 60 concerts per season, CD-recordings and international guest performances the Rundfunkchor Berlin is one of the world’s outstanding choral ensembles. Three Grammy® Awards alone mark the success of the ensemble. The exceptional breadth of its repertoire, an unmistakable warm, richly nuanced sound, absolute precision and delight in experimentation all contribute to making it one of the chosen partners of international orchestras and conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, or Yannick NézetSéguin. It is the permanent partner of the Berliner Philharmoniker as well as of Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester and their Principal Conductors.
Rundfunkchor Berlin’s experimental project series has attracted great worldwide attention. In collaboration with artists from diverse disciplines, the chorus breaks down the classical concert formation and adopts new modes of choral music for a new audience. The interactive scenic version of Brahms’s »Ein deutsches Requiem« staged by Jochen Sandig and a team of Sasha Waltz & Guests – »human requiem« – became a milestone within the choir’s experimental repertoire with guest performances in New York, Hongkong, Paris, Adelaide and Istanbul. In its project »LUTHER dancing with the gods« the choir cooperated with director Robert Wilson and reflected upon Luthers impact within the arts in an extraordinary concert performance with music by Bach, Nystedt and Reich in march of 2017. In the season 2020/21 the Rundfunkchor Berlin presented the transdisciplinary project THE WORLD TO COME based on Beethovens »Missa solemnis«. Directed by Tilman Hecker, contemporary music genres are fusing with the masterpiece by Beethoven, guiding the audience on a musical journey into the world of tomorrow. National and international Artists including Moor Mother, Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, Planningtorock, Colin Self and Birke J. Bertelsmeier, came together to realize the heart of the new season in Berlin’s Vollgutlager.
With its community projects for various target groups – the big Sing-along Concert in the Berlin Philharmonie, the Festival of Choral Cultures for international choirs and the Liederbörse (Song Exchange) for children and young people – Rundfunkchor Berlin invites people of all ages to become immersed in the world of singing. Its long-term education programme SING!, encourages singing in Berlin’s elementary schools as an ongoing staple in everyday classes. With its Academy and Schola for young professional singers as well as the Berlin International Masterclass for highly qualified young choral conductors it supports the next generation.
Founded in 1925 the choir celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2015. Since its foundation the ensemble was shaped by conductors including Helmut Koch, Dietrich Knothe, Robin Gritton and Simon Halsey. As of season 2015/16 Gijs Leenaars has taken up his post as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Rundfunkchor Berlin. Simon Halsey was appointed Conductor Laureate and will retain his ties to the ensemble as regular guest conductor.
Rundfunkchor Berlin is an ensemble of RundfunkOrchester und -Chöre gGmbH Berlin (Shareholders: Deutschlandradio, the Federal Republic of Germany, the State of Berlin and Radio BerlinBrandenburg).