Max Charles Davies
Max Charles Davies studied at the Royal College of Music as a Foundation Scholar. After gaining a distinction in his MMus from Cardiff University he continued his studies there and is currently awaiting his PhD viva, having studied under the supervision of Professors Anthony Powers and Judith Weir. He was also an SPNM shortlisted composer from 2006-2009.
His works are characterised as having a strong sense of character-driven narrative (often autobiographical in nature) and explore behaviour, comedy, the natural world and ritual, and a love of instrumental and textural colour, within a highly personal and polystylistic-influenced harmonic language.
Max is active as a pianist with his own group - The Butler in the Billiard Room - a primarily jazz ensemble with interests in new music and improvisation. He is also pianist with the salsa band Fiesta Resistance. He performs frequently as a cellist with several ad hoc ensembles, and is a dedicated animateur and teacher.
His music has been performed by, amongst others, the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Cells and Sanctuaries, 2007), Music Theatre Wales (Are we in love?, 2008) and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Exultet, 2010) and at the Cheltenham Music Festival (Wild with Blue, 2008) and the Tête à Tête Opera Festival (A Bit of a Nightmare Scenario [Six Word Opera], 2010).
Max is deeply passionate about writing for youth/amateur ensembles and continues to develop this area of his work, following successful collaborations with the Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra in Reading (The Mysterious Kiss, 2010) and the Highfields Symphony Orchestra in Cardiff (Moving Hues, 2011). Forthcoming projects for amateur musicians include another commission for the APO for performance in January 2012, and a new work for the Cardiff County and Vale of Glamorgan High Schools Orchestra.
This year, Max returns to the Tête à Tête Opera Festival, in collaboration with James Young and Arcomis Live!, with Brunch - a tentatively labeled 'pop-up ‘opera’' that will appear spontaneously throughout the festival (with the exception of one advertised performance).
Beyond the Tête à Tête Opera Festival, look out for Max performing his brand new work with The Butler in the Billiard Room in the Arcomis Live! tent at the Cardiff Mardi Gras on August 31st.
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