Ivan Roy Davis, Jr.

Ivan Roy Davis, Jr. (born February 4, 1932, in Electra, Texas; died March 12, 2018, in Miami) was an American pianist. He grew up in New Mexico and began studying piano at the age of 12 with a relative.

In 1952 he earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas, where his mentor was the Italian specialist Silvio Scionti. With a Fulbright grant he continued his studies in Rome at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Carlo Zecchi, and while studying there he took part twice in the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition (1956 and 1957), winning second prize both times.

After graduating from the academy in Rome in 1958, Davis returned to the United States and in 1959 made his New York debut at Town Hall, attracting enthusiastic critical response. During this period he became close to Vladimir Horowitz and took lessons from him. In 1966 he toured Britain successfully.

Also in 1966 Davis began teaching at the University of Miami, where he remained until his retirement in 2008. He performed with leading American orchestras and conductors and made a number of recordings focused mainly on Romantic-era solo repertoire, including works by Carl Czerny, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Edvard Grieg, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He also released a recording of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel.

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