About

Anthony Davis is a distinguished composer and professor of music at the University of California, San Diego, holding the Cecil Lytle Chancellor's Endowed Chair in African and African-American Music. Recognized as a pioneering figure in opera, his work has been acclaimed by Opera News as 'A National Treasure.' His compositions span opera, chamber, choral, and orchestral music, and he has been at the forefront of improvised music and jazz for over three decades, continually exploring new avenues of musical expression while maintaining a distinctive and original voice. Davis has composed five operas, including 'X: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X,' which premiered at the New York City Opera in 1986 and earned a Grammy nomination for its recording. Other notable operas include 'UNDER THE DOUBLE MOON,' 'TANIA,' 'AMISTAD,' and 'WAKONDA'S DREAM,' with premieres at prominent venues such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Opera Omaha. His recent works include a chamber opera 'LILITH' and ongoing collaborations on new operatic projects. In addition to opera, Davis has composed works for orchestra and chamber ensembles commissioned by major orchestras and institutions, and has contributed music for Broadway productions like 'Angels in America.' His choral compositions include 'VOYAGE THROUGH DEATH TO LIFE UPON THESE SHORES' and 'RESTLESS MOURNING,' addressing themes from the Middle Passage and the 9-11 tragedy, respectively. Davis's work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 'Lift Every Voice' Legacy Award from the National Opera Association, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A Yale University graduate, he is noted for his influential contributions to music and his role in advancing African and African-American musical traditions.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Mathematics
• Physics
• Composite material
• Pathology
• Medicine
• Anesthesia
• Mathematical analysis
• Nanotechnology
• Radiology
• Geometry
• Classical mechanics
• Mechanics

Selected publications

• Diffuse Optical Metrics of Mitochondrial Complex I Dysfunction in Swine

  2024-01-01

  article

  We compared non-invasive diffuse optical measurements of cerebral oxygen extraction fraction and oxidized cytochrome-c-oxidase against invasive microdialysis measurements of cerebral lactate-to-pyruvate ratio in a swine model of acute mitochondrial complex I dysfunction.

  PublisherDOI

• Preliminary report of a thoracic duct-to-pulmonary vein lymphovenous anastomosis in swine: A novel technique and potential treatment for lymphatic failure

  Seminars in Pediatric Surgery · 2024-05-23 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Non-invasive diffuse optical monitoring of cerebral physiology in an adult swine-model of impact traumatic brain injury

  Biomedical Optics Express · 2023 · 19 citations

  • Medicine
  • Pathology
  • Anesthesia

  In this study, we used diffuse optics to address the need for non-invasive, continuous monitoring of cerebral physiology following traumatic brain injury (TBI). We combined frequency-domain and broadband diffuse optical spectroscopy with diffuse correlation spectroscopy to monitor cerebral oxygen metabolism, cerebral blood volume, and cerebral water content in an established adult swine-model of impact TBI. Cerebral physiology was monitored before and after TBI (up to 14 days post injury). Overall, our results suggest that non-invasive optical monitoring can assess cerebral physiologic impairments post-TBI, including an initial reduction in oxygen metabolism, development of cerebral hemorrhage/hematoma, and brain swelling.

  PublisherDOI

• Self-diffusiophoresis of Janus particles at large Damköhler numbers

  Journal of Engineering Mathematics · 2022 · 7 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Mathematical analysis
  • Physics
  • Mathematics
  PublisherDOI

• Optical assessment of edema, perfusion, and oxygen metabolism after severe contusional traumatic brain injury: preliminary results in a swine-model

  2022-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleCorresponding

  We used a hybrid diffuse optical device to quantify the impact of contusional traumatic brain injury on cerebral hemodynamics and tissue water content over a 2-week post-injury period in a swine model.

  PublisherDOI

• National counter-terrorism responses: India

  Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2021-04-20

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  India has confronted a relentless and ongoing onslaught from a complex mix of terrorist movements. This overview details those campaigns and how the Government of India has developed and adapted its counter-terrorism agencies to respond to what is described as “less a recent aberration than a constantly mutating norm”.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Rolling of non-wetting droplets down a gently inclined plane

  Journal of Fluid Mechanics · 2020 · 9 citations

  • Materials science
  • Mechanics
  • Geometry

  Abstract

  PublisherDOI

• Continental Shelf Wave Scattering: Partial Removal of the Rigid Lid

  2020-12-12

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Spotlight on Caregivers

  Neurology Now · 2018-02-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Instability of a vortex sheet leaving a right-angled wedge

  Journal of Fluid Mechanics · 2016-08-15

  articleOpen access1st author

  We examine the dynamics of a semi-infinite vortex sheet attached not to a semi-infinite plate but instead to a rigid right-angled wedge, with the sheet aligned along one of its edges. Our approach to this problem, which was suggested by David Crighton, accords well with the fundamental ethos of Crighton’s work, which was characterized by ‘the application of rigorous mathematical approximations to fluid mechanical idealizations of practically relevant problems’ (Ffowcs Williams, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. , vol. 34, 2002, pp. 37–49). The resulting linearised unsteady potential flow is forced by an oscillatory dipole in the uniform stream passing along the top of the wedge, while there is stagnant fluid in the remaining quadrant. Spatial instability is considered according to well-established methods: causality is enforced by allowing the frequency to become temporarily complex. The essentially quadrant-type geometry replaces the usual Wiener–Hopf technique by the Mellin transform. The core difficulty is that a first-order difference equation of period 4 requires a solution of period unity. As a result, the complex fourth roots $(\pm 1\pm \text{i})$ of $-4$ appear in the complementary function. The Helmholtz instability wave is excited and requires careful handling to obtain explicit results for the amplitude of the instability wave.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Joseph D. Fehribach

  33 shared

• Stefan G. Llewellyn Smith

  Jacobs (United States)

  9 shared

• Todd J. Kilbaugh

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  8 shared

• Howard Brenner

  7 shared

• Raymond J. Nagem

  Boston University

  6 shared

• Darren Crowdy

  Imperial College London

  6 shared

• Sarah A. Finkelstein

  University of Toronto

  5 shared

• Constantine Mavroudis

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  4 shared

Labs

• Music - Anthony Davis LabPI

Awards & honors

• Lift Every Voice Legacy Award from the National Opera Associ…
• Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (2006)
• Honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters
• Honored by the New York Foundation of the Arts
• Honored by the National Endowment of the Arts