English composer and conductor Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (Salford, 1934- Orkney, UK, 2016) studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Manchester, then at university and in Rome with Goffredo Petrassi. A student of Roger Sessions at Princeton, in 1969 he founded The Pierrot Players with his counterpart Harrison Birtwistle, which later became Fires of London. For this group, he wrote a series of provocative contemporary works and signed two film scores for director Ken Russell(The Devils, Boyfriend). Based in the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland, he composed ten symphonies, six concertante works(Strathclyde Concertos), four quartets and two chamber operas: The Martyrdom of St. Magnus, 1976, presented at its premiere festival, and The Lighthouse, 1980. From 1979 to 1984, he conducted the Darlington Summer School of Music, then the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as associate conductor, for whom he created his Strathclyde Concertos. Ennobled by the Queen of England in 1987, he was awarded the prestigious post of Master of Court Music from 2004 to 2014, after having conducted the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester for ten years (1992-2002). His oeuvre comprises three hundred and thirty-four opus numbers.
