Ed Frazier Davis, MM

Music Director & Founder, Vox Venti / Director Institute for Choral Creativity

Ed Frazier Davis (b. 1989) is an English-American composer, baritone, and conductor living and working in Chicago, Illinois. He was appointed Composer-in-Residence for the William Baker Choral Foundation, while he was living in Kansas City, in August 2016 and served through 2022.

After Ed relocated to Chicago, he founded an ensemble of the Choral Foundation called Vox Venti, which translates from Latin to ‘Voices of the Wind’, representing both the ability of the human voice to emulate a vast range of timbres and the diversity of the Windy City.

Vox Venti is a semi-professional choral ensemble of 30 singers from the Chicagoland area, dedicated to the synthesis and performance of unique, diverse, and emotionally powerful choral repertoire. Vox Venti takes pride in performing a limitless variety of choral styles with equal diligence and mastery, but has a special affinity and passion for music by living composers, especially by LGBTQ+ composers, women composers, and composers of color. And, are dedicated to commissioning one new work from a composer from an underrepresented demographic on every concert.

Lauded for its "compelling, […] colourful orchestration" (Musical Toronto), Ed's music is poly-stylistic and draws from many eclectic influences, from Medieval song to post-minimalism and practically everything in between. He has composed music for a wide variety of media, but as an experienced singer he has a particularly strong affinity for writing choral music. His music has been commissioned and performed throughout the world by many renowned performers and organizations, including Access Contemporary Music, the Aspen Music Festival, Bella Voce, The Crossing, soprano Erin Wall, the Lincoln Trio, PLEXUS, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Ultimately, he seeks to write music that breaks established artistic binaries—e.g. traditional vs. modern, accessible vs. unfamiliar—to create art that is fulfilling to as wide an audience as possible.

Ed's career has developed considerable momentum in the past few years. From 2012 to 2016, he served as Composer-in-Residence for the Chicago Chamber Choir, the last season of which was under renowned conductor and educator Doreen Rao. In 2014, he was named second place winner of the American Prize in Choral Composition (Student Division), as well as a finalist in Chanticleer's annual student composer competition. In 2015, he received the premiere of his first international commission from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Children's Chorus (conducted by Sir Andrew Davis), and was selected as one of four composition fellows at the very first Big Sky Choral Initiative. In 2016, he made his Southern Hemisphere debut with an acclaimed commission from Melbourne-based chamber ensemble PLEXUS.