Since 2000, Sir Andrew Davis has served as Music Director and Principal Conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago. He is the former Principal Conductor, now Conductor Laureate, of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Conductor Laureate of the BBC Symphony Orchestra having served as the second longest running Chief Conductor since its founder, Sir Adrian Boult and the former Music Director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Born in 1944 in Hertfordshire, England, he studied at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar before taking up the baton. His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary works, and his vast conducting credits span the symphonic, operatic and choral worlds. In addition to the core symphonic and operatic repertoire, he is a great proponent of twentieth-century works by composers such as Janácek, Messiaen, Boulez, Elgar, Tippett and Britten. He has led the BBC Symphony Orchestra in concerts at the BBC Proms and on tour to Hong Kong, Japan, the USA and Europe. He has conducted all the major orchestras of the world, and led productions at opera houses and festivals throughout the world, including The Metropolitan Opera, New York, Teatro alla Scala, Milan and the Bayreuth Festival. Maestro Davis is a prolific recording artist, currently under exclusive contract to Chandos. He received the Charles Heidsieck Music Award of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1991, was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1992, and in 1999 was appointed Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List.