Ed Frazier Davis is an English-American composer, bass-baritone, conductor, and “musical alchemist” (KC Independent) based in Chicago.

​​

​Ed’s music, described as “at once deeply emotional and sublime” (KC Arts Beat), is best characterized by a rich harmonic language, “compelling, […] colourful orchestration” (Musical Toronto), and masterful text-painting. His influences are eclectic and numerous, but the music of his English upbringing—folk music of the British Isles, Anglican church music, and composers such as Benjamin Britten, Herbert Howells, and Michael Tippett—are perhaps the strongest. His compositions have been commissioned and performed throughout the world by many renowned musicians and institutions, including Access Contemporary Music, the ACDA National Convention, the Aspen Music Festival, the BBC Singers, The Crossing, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, PLEXUS, and the Toronto Children’s Chorus. He has been named a winner or finalist in numerous contests, including the American Prize in Choral Composition, the Continuum Catalyst Competition, the Illinois-ACDA Composer Award, the Missouri Composer’s Project, and the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus Composition Competition.

​

As a singer, Ed has performed both ensemble and solo work with dozens of organizations across the United States. He performs regularly with acclaimed ensembles in the Chicagoland area including Bella Voce, the Grant Park Music Festival Chorus (where is a tenured regular chorister), the St. Josaphat Schola, Vox Madonna, and the William Ferris Chorale, and sings every Sunday with the fully professional choir of St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church. In Kansas City, where he lived from 2016 to 2022, he served for six years as bass section leader and assistant choirmaster at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, sang six seasons with the William Baker Festival Singers (for whom he also served as composer-in-residence), and sang five seasons with the Grammy-winning Kansas City Chorale, appearing on their Grammy-nominated “Kastalsky: Requiem for Fallen Brothers” album under the baton of Leonard Slatkin.

​​​​​

In 2022, Ed founded Vox Venti, a 32-voice semi-professional chorus which focuses largely on works by living composers, and is proudly dedicated to commissioning new works from composers from historically excluded demographics on as many concerts as possible. He was Vox Venti's conductor and artistic director for its first four seasons, during which the choir performed twenty world premieres (thirteen of which were commissions) and four North American premieres, and he will assume the roles of executive director and member of the bass section in the fall of 2026.

​​​​

Ed obtained his Bachelor of Arts with honors in music composition from Knox College, and his Master of Music in composition from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He further studied composition at the doctoral level at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. His primary composition teachers were Bruce Polay, Marta Ptaszyńska, Kyong Mee Choi, Stacy Garrop, Chen Yi, James Mobberley, and Zhou Long. He has studied voice with Sarah Moran, Stacey Tappan, Jim Collins, and Vinson Cole.

​​​​​

Ed is the proud legacy of his late parents, conductor Sir Andrew Davis and soprano/educator Gianna Rolandi, who were two of his greatest inspirations and whom he misses every day.

​​​

A selection of Ed's compositions are published through MusicSpoke, and all other works are available to peruse/purchase on request.