Concerts

For eight years, Carl held the post of Artistic Director and Conductor for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s Summer Pops Season, conducting Sounds of the City, a concert showcasing the richness of the musical legacy from the great musicians and composers of Liverpool. A recording followed. As part of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s 150th anniversary celebrations in 1991, Carl and Sir Paul McCartney wrote a full-length work entitled Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio, which premiered at the Anglican Cathedral, Liverpool, conducted by Carl, in June 1991 and was subsequently performed around the world. The EMI recording of the work achieved record sales worldwide, and the BBC documentary was a must-see. Carl first conducted the annual open-air concert at Leeds Castle in 1983, and this continued for 24 years. In 2005, Carl accepted a commission to compose a theme for The Leeds Rhinos (Rugby League world champions). Carl also worked with the international superstar Dame Edna Everage in the smash hit Last Night of the Proms – with a little help from Barry Humphries.

Throughout his career, Carl Davis composed concert works, among which a Clarinet Concerto, Fantasy for Flute, Strings and Harpsichord are particularly notable. In 2011, the brilliant cellist Jonathan Aasgaard, principal of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, asked Carl to write for him and the RLPO and subsequently commissioned the acclaimed Ballade for Cello and Orchestra. His symphonic work, A Circle of Stones, consisted of four symphonic pictures for orchestra and was written for Mike Mansfield Publications for broadcast on S4C in 1997. There were also many concert suites derived from film scores, vocal music, choral works, instrumental and chamber music, and opera. In 2012, The Last Train to Tomorrow – a dramatic narrative for children’s choir, actors, and orchestra, based on the story of the Kindertransport – was premiered by the Hallé Orchestra and Children’s Choir to great acclaim and subsequently received its London debut in 2014 at the Roundhouse in Camden, where HRH Prince Charles was in attendance. It was also performed at Lincoln Centre in New York and as part of the prestigious Three Choirs Festival in 2019.