Ivan Davis

Vocation

Notable

American classical pianist. Davis received his Bachelor of Music in 1952 from University of North Texas College of Music, and an Artist's Diploma, as a Fulbright Scholar, from the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome. He won second prize in the 1956 and 1957 Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition and first prize in the 1958 St. Cecilia Piano Competition. In April 1960, Davis won the Franz Liszt Competition at Town Hall, New York City. He debuted at New York City's Town Hall in 1959. Davis made his international debut at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. In 1960, he began a 60 concert cross-country tour. He has toured the world with several major orchestras and has performed under such world-famous conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy and Lorin Maazel. He has received the Handel Medallion from New York City for contributions to the city's cultural life. Since 1966, Davis has been a professor of music at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. On August 6, 1960, Davis married Betty Lou Saxton, who studied at Juilliard and Columbia University. The wedding ceremony took place in the Glass House of Philip Johnson in New Canaan, Connecticut. Link to Wikipedia biography