Davis Brooks comes from a diverse musical background as soloist, pedagogue, orchestral musician, studio musician, concertmaster on Broadway, conductor, and chamber musician. His teaching experience has included faculty appointments at Baylor University, Wayne State University, the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, and Bucknell University. He is Professor of Violin Emeritus at Butler University in Indianapolis, and the 2015-2016 University of Alabama School of Music Endowed Chair in Music Composition.
He served as Associate Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra for fifteen years, and was a member of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center for ten years. Dr. Brooks played in the New York Chamber Symphony for nineteen years, which produced over twenty critically acclaimed recordings during his tenure. Dr. Brooks has been concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of New England, the Harrisburg Symphony, and the Waco Symphony. He performs frequently with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and is active in the many recording studios in the Indianapolis area. In November 2016, Early Musings, his latest recording of new music, was released which featured solo music written for him by ten Alabama composers. Dr. Brooks has previously released two solo cds, one of music for violin and electronic media entitled Violin and Electronics, and one of music by composer C.P. First. All are available on iTunes. Other recordings include Reflection on a Hymn of Thanksgiving by Frank Felice, With Every Leaf a Miracle by Mark Schultz, and Manunya by Frank Glover.
At Yale University, where he received a master's degree in violin performance, Dr. Brooks studied with Broadus Erle and Syoko Aki. His doctorate, also in violin performance, is from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Other important teachers with whom he has worked include Joyce Robbins, George Neikrug, Russell Hatz, and Raymond Page; he has studied chamber music with Julius Levine, Josef Gingold, Aldo Parisot, and members of the Tokyo, Alard and Guarneri Quartets.
Chamber music is his first love. He has been a member of the Indianapolis Chamber Players, the Commonwealth and Landolfi Quartets, as well as the Meridian and Essex Piano Trios. In addition, Dr. Brooks' special interests include both the performance of music by contemporary composers and performance on original instruments, particularly the music of the Baroque period. He is a founding member of both the Chicago 21st- Century Music Ensemble and the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra. Recording for the progressive rock band The Psychedelic Ensemble has been a most pleasurable diversion, as has performing with the Indianapolis band Progressive Lenses.
