1930 – 1999

Composer-pianist John Davison grew up in upper New York State and in New York City.  He studied music at the Juilliard School, Haverford College and Harvard University before earning his doctorate at the Eastman School of Music.  Among his teachers were Alfred Swan, Randall Thompson, Walter Piston, Bernard Rogers, Howard Hanson, Alan Hovhaness, and Robert Palmer.

Davison taught at Haverford College from 1959 until his death.  He was awarded prizes, fellowships and many commissions, including from the Nittany Valley Symphony and the Altoona Symphony Orchestra.  His music is played widely in the United States, Europe and Asia.  Orchestras playing his compositions include the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, the Susquehanna Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra.  The Chestnut Brass Company recorded his Brass Quintet on their CD “Pastime with Good Company,” and Albany Records has issued an all-Davison CD.  He wrote for most standard media and for unusual instruments, such as the koto, cimbalom, and bagpipe.  His trombone music has met with particular success.

Davison co-authored, with John Ashmead, a book on the songs of Roberts Burns, in which Davison provided new harmonizations of folk tunes that Burns had employed.  These were featured in a video shown on National Public Television and were recorded by Davison and soprano Shoshana Shay.

John Davison’s idiom was rooted in the great Western classic-romantic tradition, with some interweaving of Baroque, Renaissance, jazz, modernist, and folk music elements.