Meet Juilliard's Busiest Composer (ft. Tyson Davis)

Tyson Gholston Davis (b.2000) is an American composer in his senior year at The Juilliard School where is a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship studying with Robert Beaser. Davis began composing at the age of eight years old and entered the University North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) as a high school freshman, studying with Lawrence Dillon. In the summer of 2019, Davis worked with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) and Antonio Pappano to premiere his work, Delicate Tension, a piece that was commissioned by the American Embassy in Berlin for the 30th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The work was performed in Berlin, Edinburgh, and Hamburg. Since then, Davis has been a leading desired composer to be performed and commissioned by leading ensembles. He has been the recipient of more than 22 commissions by organizations such as; The Juilliard String Quartet, the Albany Symphony, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, WQXR (New York Public Radio), New York New Music Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, and various other groups and soloist. His recently finished work, Amorphous Figures (String Quartet No. 2) was commissioned by Da Camera Society of Houston, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Chamber Music Cincinnati for the Juilliard String Quartet. The work will be premiered in April of 2023. Currently, Davis is backed up with commissions until mid-2024 with works for soprano saxophone and piano (for Robert Young), wind quintet (for Zephyros winds), solo piano (Jonathan Biss), and several others. Tyson’s favorite classical composers include Beethoven, Elliott Carter, Henri Dutilleux, Unsuk Chin, and Jacob Druckman. He also loves the pop music of Marvin Gaye, John Denver, and Simon and Garfunkel. He lives in Washington Heights, NYC, and enjoys frequent walks in Fort Tryon Park. 00:20 Introducing composer Tyson Davis 00:55 Going to the gym 03:35 What’s the food like at Juilliard? 08:36 The role of composition mentors and lessons 15:00 Dealing with time in music 16:30 Agency for musicians 19:00 Improvisation as influence 22:40 The audience’ relationship to new music 25:40 Tyson’s upbringing as a composer in North Carolina 30:50 University of North Carolina School of the Arts 35:35 The importance of writing solo works 41:33 Tyson’s new string quartet 44:20 How does Tyson balance out his commissions? 48:00 Tyson writes by hand! 49:36 Speed dating pieces 51:25 Why microtonality? 54:50 Should new music programmed at Juilliard be more adventurous? 58:35 Microtonality discussion continued 01:03:47 The creative “box” Juilliard student composers tend to write in 01:08:00 Gen Z composers Ivan Wyschnegradsky's Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony https://underwolf.com/wyschnegradsky The Arithmetic of Listening: Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician https://a.co/d/gKfS61W Tyson’s website: https://tysongholsdaviscomposer.com/ 👨🏻‍🏫 BOOK a 1-on-1 meeting with me directly via this link if you're interested in having a lesson or consultation: https://calendly.com/saadhaddad 📰 NEWSLETTER: https://saadnhaddad.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=d52b653fc543f4ca604265d53&id=70d2af18c6