Helga Davis is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist who works as an actress, singer, writer and composer, as well as a radio and podcast host.

Performances

Helga Davis performed as a principal actor in the 25th-anniversary international revival of Robert Wilson and

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

's opera '' Einstein on the Beach.'' ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described Davis' performance as "Compelling." Robert Wilson described Davis as "a united whole, with spellbinding inner power and strength." David Keenan, of '' The Wire'' magazine, described Davis as "a powerful vocalist with an almost operatic range and all the bruised sensuality of Jeanne Lee." Davis' music career has included a stint in the rock band Women in Love, in the 1990s. More recently, Davis has starred in operas and theater pieces internationally, including Robert Wilson's ''The Temptation of St. Anthony,'' libretto and score by

Bernice Johnson Reagon Bernice Johnson Reagon (born Bernice Johnson on October 4, 1942) is a song leader, composer, scholar, and social activist, who in the early 1960s was a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee's (SNCC) Freedom Singers in t ...

; her and

Toshi Reagon Toshi Reagon (born January 27, 1964) is an American musician of folk, blues, gospel, rock and funk, as well as a composer, curator, and producer. Early life Born January 27, 1964 in Atlanta, Georgia, Reagon grew up in Washington, D.C. She wa ...

's ''

Octavia E. Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowshi ...

's Parable Of The Sower,'' ''Milton'' by Katie Pearl and Lisa Damour; ''The Blue Planet,'' a multimedia theater piece, by Peter Greenaway and Saskia Boddeke; and Soho Rep's ''Jomama Jones, Radiate,'' which was included in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' theatre critic Hilton All's top ten list. Among the many works that have been written for Davis are ''Faust's Box,'' written and directed by Italian contemporary music composer Andrea Liberovici; ''Oceanic Verses'' by

Paola Prestini Paola Prestini (born ) is a composer of classical music. The ''New York Times'' referred to Prestini as "the enterprising composer and impresario" and a "human resources alchemist". In 2011, she was named one of the Top 100 Composers in the World ...

, with libretto by Donna DiNovelli; and ''Elsewhere'' by Missy Mazzoli and Maya Beiser. Davis hosts the "Helga" podcast, live events for New Sounds and WQXR-FM's Q2 Music.

Awards and appointments

Davis is the recipient of the BRIC Fireworks grant and the ASCAP Multimedia Award, as well as the 2019 Greenfield Prize. Davis was appointed the Visiting Curator for the Performing Arts at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in Boston, for 2018-2021.

Early life and education

Davis was born and raised in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

, in New York City. She performed in high school theater productions, studied piano and sang in a church choir.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Helga Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Artists from New York City 21st-century American artists 21st-century American women artists