Steven Davis
Wind Symphony
Associate Professor of Conducting
Steven D. Davis is the Director of Bands and Wind Ensembles, Associate Professor of Conducting, and conductor of the Conservatory Wind Symphony at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He is also the conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Youth Symphony of Kansas City. He is conductor of newEar Kansas Cityıs professional contemporary chamber ensemble and also is conductor of UMKCıs new music ensemble Musica Nova. He coordinates the graduate program in wind ensemble conducting and guides all aspects of the UMKC band program. He is the founding director of one of the largest conducting symposiums of its type in the country - the UMKC Wind Band Teaching Symposium (http://conservatory.umkc.edu/bands), held each summer on the campus of the Conservatory. For the five years prior to joining the faculty at UMKC he was the Associate Director of University Bands at the University of Michigan. His primary teacher was Craig Kirchhoff and he considers H. Robert Reynolds, James Croft, Frederick Fennell, Joseph Kreines and Michael Haithcock additional significant mentors.
In 2008 09 he will make appearances as a conductor in Beijing, China where he will conduct the Conservatory Orchestra at Chinaıs most esteemed conservatory of music the Central Conservatory. While there he will conduct Beethovenıs Seventh Symphony, Steven Stuckyıs Son et Lunaire and Chen Yiıs second cello concerto. He will also conduct in six cities in Spain, and will conduct honor bands and orchestras in Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Arizona, Georgia and Texas.
The Conservatory Wind Symphony, under his leadership, is honored by its acceptance to perform at the College Band Directors National Association National Conference in Austin, Texas in March of 2009 where they will perform works by UMKC faculty Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, and Jim Mobberley. They will also perform Alban Bergıs mammoth opus the Kammerkonzert for thirteen winds. The Wind Symphony will be joined on stage by UMKC faculty Robert Weirich, Benny Kim, Rebecca Sherburn, and Bobby Watson.
Proudly committed to music education and the mentoring of instrumental music educators and students (he taught in the public schools of Florida for six years), Davis has presented lectures, conducted ensembles, and evaluated performances in over 35 states and abroad. Some of these invitations have included presentations or performances at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, MENC National Convention, Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, CBDNA National Convention, the Festival of New American Music, Powell Hall alongside David Robertson of the St. Louis Symphony and numerous state music conferences.
Davis has been praised for performances by some of todayıs most significant living composers such as Michael Colgrass, John Corigliano, Osvaldo Golijov, David Lang, Jennifer Higdon, Steven Stucky, Chen Yi, Michael Daugherty, Verne Reynolds, Leslie Bassett, Samuel Adler, Robert Linn, and Frank Ticheli, and is a proponent for new literature within the instrumental music community. He has recently been elected the Vice President (President-elect) of the Southwest Division of the CBDNA and will serve in both capacities for four years beginning in 2008. He has been awarded honorary lifetime memberships in the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, Phi Mu Alpha and Tau Beta Sigma fraternities. The University of Michigan Band Alumni Association named Davis a true son of Michigan. Davis has published with Carl Fischer Inc.
