Anthony Davis ( In History) - February 20, 1951 - Present

Davis studied at Wesleyan and Yale universities. He was Yale's first Lustman Fellow, teaching composition and Afro-American studies. In 1987 Davis was appointed Senior Fellow with the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University, and in 1990 he returned to Yale University as Visiting Professor of Music. He became Professor of Music in Afro-American Studies at Harvard University in the fall of 1992. In April 1993, Davis made his Broadway debut, composing the music for Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, directed by George C. Wolfe. His music can also be heard in Kushner’s companion piece, Perestroika, which opened on Broadway in November 1993. As a composer, Davis is best known for his operas. X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, which played to sold-out houses at its premiere at the New York City Opera in 1986, was the first opera on a contemporary political subject. Amistad was another opera composed by Davis. It premiered at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in November 1997. Anthony Davis is an internationally known composer of operatic, symphonic, choral, and chamber works. He is also known for his virtuoso performances both as a solo pianist and as the leader of the ensemble Episteme. Davis is now a full-time professors at the University of California at San Diego.

Sites referencing Anthony Davis:
http://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-9310937
http://www.bmop.org/musicians/composer_bio.aspx?cid=137
http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=2&ComposerId_2872=330