Anthony Davis is celebrated worldwide for his operatic, orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Hailed as “a national treasure” by Opera News and one of the “great living American composers” by the New York Times, Davis writes music that engages contemporary political subjects. To honor his illustrious career, he was inducted into the Opera Hall of Fame in 2023.

The Central Park Five (2019) earned Davis the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Music, telling the true story of five Black teenagers wrongfully convicted in 1989. This work, premiered by Long Beach Opera in 2019, powerfully addresses issues of justice and racial inequality. Another monumental piece, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, has become legendary since its 1985 premiere, blending opera with improvisational music to tell Malcolm X’s story. Directed by Robert O’Hara, the new production of X, which debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2023, continues to tour major American opera houses.

Other key works, such as Amistad and Wakonda’s Dream, further illustrate his versatile talent for turning historical and political narratives into compelling music. Notably, You Have the Right to Remain Silent, inspired by Davis’s experience of being wrongfully detained by police, integrates Miranda rights into its performance. In addition to opera, Davis composed music for Tony Kushner’s Angels in America and created choral works like Voyage through Death to Life upon These Shores, focused on the Middle Passage. His oratorio Restless Mourning, composed after the September 11 attacks, showcases his ability to evoke deep emotion through music.

A graduate of Yale University, Davis was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2021 and has received numerous other honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship.