Peter Maxwell Davies
1934 - 2016
British
Summary
The website of the Peter Maxwell Davies Trust contains a comprehensive catalogue of the composer's work, as well as information about the man and his music.
Critical Acclaim
Unquestionably the most exciting and radical composing talent in Britain. — BBC Music MagazineThe Naxos Quartets represent something quite new, probably of inexhaustible interest and complicated pleasure, and maybe a landmark. — Financial Times
The other two pieces (Revelation and Fall and A Mirror of Whitening Light) rank among Davies's finest achievements, and therefore among the greatest works written in England in the past 50 years. - The Guardian
That super-bright mercuriality which characterises his music at its best. - The Independent
Biography
Universally acknowledged as one of the foremost composers of our time, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies made a significant contribution to musical history through his wide ranging and prolific output. He lived for much of his life in the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland, where he wrote most of his music. In a work list that spans more than five decades, he wrote across a broad range of styles, yet his music always communicates directly and powerfully, whether in his profoundly argued symphonic works, his music-theatre works or witty light orchestral works.
Maxwell Davies’ major dramatic works include full-length ballets Salome and Caroline Mathilde, music-theatre works Eight Songs for a Mad King and Miss Donnithorne's Maggot, and operas Resurrection, The Lighthouse, The Doctor of Myddfai, and Taverner, which was recently released by NMC Records on a Grammy-nominated disc with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Oliver Knussen. MaxwellDavies’s last opera Kommilitonen! (Young Blood!) received critical acclaim for its world premiere run of performances at London’s Royal Academy of Music, with the Daily Telegraph labelling the composer "a master symphonist”.
Maxwell Davies’ huge output of orchestral work comprises ten symphonies - hailed bythe Times as "the most important symphonic cycle since Shostakovich” – as well as numerous concerti including the Strathclyde Concerto series and most recently his violin concerto Fiddler on the Shore, written for Daniel Hope and first performed in 2009 by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and at the BBC Proms. Maxwell Davies’ light orchestral works include An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise and Mavis in Las Vegas, and five large-scale works for chorus including the oratorio Job. His landmark cycle of ten string quartets, the Naxos Quartets, were described in the Financial Times as "one of the most impressive musical statements of our time”. Recent highlights include Maxwell Davies’ last symphony (Symphony No. 10) was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and was premiered by LSO at the Barbican Centre in February 2014 to great critical acclaim, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.
Maxwell Davies held the position of Composer/Conductor with both the Royal Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras for many years and guest-conducted several major orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra,San Francisco Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra. He founded the St. Magnus Festival, Orkney’s annual arts festival, in 1977, was Composer Laureate of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music and Canterbury Christchurch University.
Maxwell Davies was appointed Master of the Queen's Music from 2004-2014, in which role he sought to raise the profile of music in Great Britain, as well as writing many works for Her Majesty the Queen and for royal occasions. He was knighted in 1987 and made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the New Year 2014 Honours List.
The music of Peter Maxwell Davies is published by Chester Music Ltd.
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies - The changing face of 'new' music
A video created by the Institute of Musical Research at the School of Advanced Study, London
https://music.sas.ac.uk/music-video/new-music-insight/sir-peter-maxwell-davies.html
News
- Scotland in Music
- 20th January 2022
- Ahead of Burns Night we highlight some of the best creatives from Scotland and other great works inspired by the lands north of the wall.
- Judith Weir premiere at 2021 Festival of St Cecilia
- 12th November 2021
- On November 17, the Festival of St Cecilia, the world premiere of the new anthem One day to sing, by Judith Weir will be performed by the Choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral...
- A Collection of Chamber Operas
- 25th February 2020
- The following chamber operas offer a more intimate experience for captivating your audiences’ hearts and minds. Varying in size, language and content, the selections below offer repertoire for a wide range of...
- World Opera Day | A Glimpse at the North American Canon Over the Decades
- 25th October 2019
- Contemporary opera is booming with a bounty of world premieres taking place each season. The upcoming 40th anniversary in 2020 of the premiere of Kirke Mechem’s beloved opera on Moliere’s Tartuffe...
- Summer Listening: Flute Concertos
- 2nd August 2019
- Our summer listening series continues for a few windy weeks, starting with today's selection of concertos for flute and piccolo. Inspired by humankind's great myths, the flute concertos by John Corigliano, Simon Holt...
- Civil War and Civil Rights
- 15th February 2018
- Highlighting works of relevance within our contemporary dialogue, Music Sales offers a selection of operas about key people and events of African-American heritage that have transformed our society and collective...
Performances
31st July 2025
- PERFORMERS
- Duisburger Philharmoniker
- CONDUCTOR
- Jason Tran; Killian Farrell
- LOCATION
- Theater, Duisburg, Germany
31st July 2025
- PERFORMERS
- Junges Theater im Werftpark
- CONDUCTOR
- Moritz Caffier
- LOCATION
- Theater im Werftpark, Kiel, Germany
Features
- A Collection of Chamber Operas
- Add some drama to your programs with our collection of captivating chamber operas.
Photos

Discography
- LabelSignum
- Catalogue NumberSIGCD768
- ConductorAndrew Nethsingha / George Herbert
- EnsembleChoir of St John's College, Cambridge
- SoloistOliver Wass, harp; Joseph Wicks, organ; George Herbert, organ
- Released24th November 2023
- Works
- LabelChamps Hill Records
- Catalogue NumberCHRCD154
- EnsembleEnsemble Perpetuo
- Released5th November 2021
- Works
- LabelNimbus
- Catalogue NumberNI5936
- EnsembleThe Wallace Collection
- Released6th November 2015
- Works
- LabelNMC
- Catalogue NumberNMC D203
- SoloistRichard Watkins, horn
- Released16th March 2015
- Works
- LabelNaxos
- Catalogue Number8.572358
- ConductorPeter Maxwell Davies
- EnsembleBBC Philharmonic
- Released12th January 2015
- Works
- LabelNaxos
- Catalogue Number8.572362
- ConductorPeter Maxwell Davies
- EnsembleBBC Philharmonic Orchestra
- Released1st December 2014
- Works
- LabelNaxos
- Catalogue Number8.572362
- ConductorPeter Maxwell Davies
- EnsembleBBC Philharmonic Orchestra
- Released1st December 2014
- Works
- LabelNaxos
- Catalogue Number8.572359
- ConductorPeter Maxwell Davies
- EnsembleBBC Philharmonic
- SoloistDella Jones, David Wilson-Johnson
- Released1st September 2014
- Works
- LabelNaxos
- Catalogue Number8.660359-60
- ConductorPeter Maxwell Davies
- EnsembleBBC Philharmonic Orchestra
- SoloistDella Jones, mezzo-soprano / Christopher Robson, countertenor / Martyn Hill, tenor / Neil Jenkins, tenor / Henry Herford, baritone / Gerald Finley, baritone / Jonathan Best, bass / Blaze, rock band / Mary Carewe, vocals
- Released1st August 2014
- Works
- LabelNaxos
- Catalogue NumberNaxos 8.572408
- ConductorNicholas Cleobury
- EnsembleAquarius
- SoloistPeter Maxwell Davies
- Released3rd March 2014
- Works
Advent Live, Vol. 3
Reels, Drones and Jigs
Peter Maxwell Davies - Music for Brass

Sea Eagle
Caroline Mathilde Ballet Suites

The Beltane Fire
