Christopher Fox

Christopher Fox is a composer, teacher and writer on new music. Between 1984 and 1994 he was a member of the composition staff of the Darmstadt New Music Summer School. During 1987 he lived in West Berlin as a guest of the DAAD Berlin Artists Programme. He joined the University of Huddersfield in 1994, eventually becoming professor in composition; he joined Brunel University as professor in music in April 2006.

Research Overview

Composition, musicology

Teaching Activity

Composition, musicology

Christopher Fox’s work has been performed and broadcast world-wide and has featured in many of the leading new music festivals, from the Amsterdam PROMS to the BBC Promenade Concerts and from St Petersburg to Sidney. He has worked with many of the world’s leading new music ensembles and soloists. In recent years he has established particularly close relationships with the experimental music ensemble Apartment House in the UK and with the Ives Ensemble in the Netherlands, for whom he wrote the evening-long ensemble installation, Everything You Need To Know (2000-1). Fox’s music is widely available on CD, with five portrait CDs on the Metier label, a portrait CD on the NMC label, and other recordings on Artifact, BVHaast, FMR, HatHut, Metier and NMC.

Fox has been hailed by The Wire as "a tantalising figure in British Music" and the Sunday Times has described his music as "impressive, thoughtful, entertaining and extremely varied". Fox's work regularly extends beyond the conventional boundaries of the concert hall and includes the radio piece Three Constructions after Kurt Schwitters, commissioned by the BBC in 1993 and nominated for the Prix Italia, gallery works in collaboration with video artists and printmakers, a 'musical box' made with the poet Ian Duhig, a 'pocket opera' for Ensemble Bash and a number of extended ensemble works which defy categorisation.

Publications

Journal Papers

(2010) Fox, C., Magic moments, MUSICAL TIMES 151 (1910) : 87- 91

(2010) Fox, C., Open score, MUSICAL TIMES 151 (1911) : 101- 104

(2009) Fox, C., For Aldo Clementi, CONTEMPORARY MUSIC REVIEW 28 (6) : 513- 514

(2009) Fox, C., John Adams: Hallelujah junction - Composing an American life, Musical Times 150 (1908) : 109- 112

(2009) Fox, C., The music of Michael Nyman: texts, contexts and intertexts, MUSICAL TIMES 150 (1906) : 107- 109

(2007) Fox, C., 'CageTalk': dialogues with and about John Cage, MUSICAL TIMES 148 (1899) : 116- 119

(2007) Fox, C., Björn Heile: The music of Mauricio Kagel, Musical Times 148 (1900) : 103- 108

(2007) Fox, C., Stravinsky: the second exile, France and America, 1934-1971, MUSICAL TIMES 148 (1898) : 107- 112

(2007) Fox, C., Where the river bends: the Cologne School in retrospect, MUSICAL TIMES 148 (1901) : 27- 42

(2006) Fox, C., Imperfection and colour (Morton Feldman), MUSICAL TIMES 147 (1896) : 102- 108

(2005) Fox, C., The Oxford history of western music, vol 5, the late twentieth century, MUSICAL TIMES 146 (1893) : 104- 107

(2004) Fox, C., Tempestuous times: the recent music of Thomas Ades, MUSICAL TIMES 145 (1888) : 41- 56

(2003) Fox, C., Gavin Bryars at 60: Sharp practice, MUSICAL TIMES 144 (1884) : 15- 25

(2003) Fox, C., Rzewski plays Rzewski, piano works 1975-1999 - Nonesuch-79632-3 (Rzewski), MUSICAL TIMES 144 (1882) : 65- 68

(2003) Fox, C., Sharp practice, Musical Times 144 (1884) : 15- 25

(2002) Fox, C., The Cambridge companion to John Cage, MUSICAL TIMES 143 (1881) : 73- 76

(2002) Fox, C., The New York schools of music and visual arts, MUSICAL TIMES 143 (1881) : 73- 76

(2001) Fox, C., Life is beautiful - The music of Richard Ayres (with an accompanying list of compositions), MUSICAL TIMES 142 (1875) : 39- 52

(2000) Fox, C., Written in sand - Stockhausen's 'Plus Minus' - A neglected 'graphic score' of the 1960s, MUSICAL TIMES 141 (1871) : 16- 24

(1999) Fox, C., Harry Partch, MUSICAL TIMES 140 (1868) : 57- +

(1999) Fox, C., Lou Harrison: composing a world, MUSICAL TIMES 140 (1868) : 57- +

(1999) Fox, C., Square dances (The music of Richard Rijnvos, a leading Dutch composer of the younger generation), MUSICAL TIMES 140 (1869) : 22- 30

(1999) Fox, C., The Cambridge history of American music, MUSICAL TIMES 140 (1868) : 57- +

(1998) Fox, C., Art, class & cleavage: quantulumcunque concerning materialist esthetix, MUSICAL TIMES 139 (1865) : 46- 52

(1998) Fox, C., Music & nationalism in 20th-century Great Britain and Finland, MUSICAL TIMES 139 (1865) : 46- 52

(1998) Fox, C., The land without music: music, culture & society in 20th century Britain, MUSICAL TIMES 139 (1865) : 46- 52

(1994) Fox, C., GETTING A COMPLEX + RESPONSE TO HEWETT,IVAN DISCUSSION OF BARRETT,RICHARD MUSIC, MUSICAL TIMES 135 (1815) : 263- 264

Book Chapters

(2010) Fox, C., 'Exercising the ensemble: some thoughts on the later music of Christian Wolff'. In: Thomas, P. and Chase, S. eds. Changing the System. Ashgate Pub Co 125- 142

(2009) Fox, C., Christopher Fox. In: Saunders, J. ed. The Ashgate Research Companion to Experimental Music. Ashgate Publishing 261- 270

(2009) Fox, C., Why experimental? Why me?. In: Saunders, J. ed. The Ashgate Research Companion to Experimental Music. Farnham, Surrey : Ashgate Publishing Limited 7- 26

Books

(1998) Brougham, H., Fox, C. and Pace, I., Uncommon ground: the music of Michael Finnissy. Ashgate Publishing Limited