Erika Fox

Erika Fox (born 3 October 1936) is a British composer and teacher. Born in Vienna, she grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home. In 1939 at the age of three, Fox emigrated to England as a refugee. There she went on to study composition at the Royal College of Music with Bernard Stevens, and later with Jeremy Dale Roberts and Harrison Birtwistle.[1]

Fox was active in modern music circles from the 1970s, working with the Fires of London, the Nash Ensemble, Dartington and the Society for the Promotion of New Music. For two decades she enjoyed considerable success, with works such the Kaleidoscope quartet (for flute, harp, vibraphone and cello, 1983) and her puppet music drama The Bet (1990), which was performed at the Purcell Room, the Almeida Theatre, the Huddersfield Festival and the Norwich Puppet Theatre.[2] But her music faded from view in the mid-1990s. A revival of interest resulted in the issue of a CD recording in 2019, the first recordings of her music.[3] Her orchestral work Osen Shomaat was recorded by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2020.[4][5] David Spielt Vor Saul a new concerto for piano and large ensemble, was commissioned by the BBC and first performed by Julian Jacobson and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Geoffrey Paterson, at City Halls, Glasgow, on 13 January 2022.[6]

Her musical style shows the influence of Eastern European folk music combined with ancient modal liturgical chant and Jewish Chassidic music.[2] She has taught as the Centre for Young Musicians in Pimlico, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and as Visiting Composer and Teacher at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.[2]

Works

Fox writes for stage and vocal as well as instrumental performance, and her compositions incorporate elements of Jewish traditional music. Selected works include:

  • Nine lessons from Isaiah (1970)
  • Paths Where the Mourners Tread (1980), chamber ensemble
  • Kaleidoscope (1983), quartet
  • Shir (1983) for large chamber ensemble
  • On Visiting Stravinsky's Grave at San Michele (1988), piano
  • The Dancer, Hotoke (1991) chamber opera, text by Ruth Fainlight
  • The Moon of Moses (1992) for solo cello
  • Osen Shoomaat (1985) for 36 solo strings[7]
  • The Bet (1990) puppet music drama, text by Elaine Feinstein
  • Malinconia Militare (2003) for chamber ensemble
  • Café, Warsaw 1944 (2005) for chamber ensemble
  • Several Fanfares (2020) for solo trumpet
  • Lament 2020 (2020) for contrabass flute and piano
  • David Spielt Vor Saul (after Rilke) for piano and ensemble (2021)

References
  1. Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393034875. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
  2. Composer's website/
  3. Goldfield Ensemble
  4. BBC: The Hearing Ear
  5. Composer's Edition website
  6. David Spielt Vor Saul, Composers Edition (2021)
  7. "Contributions of Jewish Women to Music and Women to Jewish Music". Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2010.


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