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Updated 10/12/2018

Donal Fox

  • M

    MA

Institution/Business Type: Artist / Creative (Individual)

Innovative pianist-composer Donal Fox presents his Monk and Bach project, a brilliant and genre-defying program of music inspired by Thelonious Monk, J.S. Bach, Astor Piazzolla, Domenico Scarlatti, James Brown, Robert Schumann, Cuban music, the blues and beyond. Fox's virtuosic, swinging style crosses a wide spectrum from jazz to classical and is poetic, hip, fresh, and ultimately contemporary. Critics and fellow musicians have been unanimous in their praise for Fox: "An innovative composer and virtuoso pianist." -Dr. Billy Taylor. "Coruscating improvisation."- Boston Globe. "Confounding the Genre Police." -DownBeat. "A brilliant technician and an exquisite magician at the keyboard,”- Mittelbayrische Zeitung, Germany "Fox's music is unlike that of anyone else. -- Jazz Hot, France "The power of McCoy Tyner and the superb keyboard marksmanship of Ellington and Horowitz"- Boston Phoenix "Donal is one of a small handful of musicians who embody the promise of jazz's future."-Gary Giddins

Donal Fox is internationally acclaimed as composer, pianist, and improviser in both jazz and classical music. His numerous awards include a Guggenheim fellowship in music composition, and a fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation. He served as the first African- American composer-in-residence with the St. Louis Symphony and was a visiting artist at Harvard University, where he received a Certificate of Recognition from the President of Harvard College for his contribution to the arts. Mr. Fox recently premiered his Monk and Bach Project at Jazz at Lincoln Center, his Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project at Tanglewood, and the world premiere of his piano concerto Peace Out for Improvised Piano and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra. He has been Composer-in-Residence at Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus (Germany), Tyrone Guthrie Centre (Ireland), Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Liguria Study Center (Italy), Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, among others. Donal Fox has performed and recorded with many artists including Oliver Lake, John Stubblefield, David Murray, Elliott Sharp, Regina Carter, George Mraz, Al Foster, Stefon Harris, Dafnis Prieto, Christian Scott, Terri Lyne Carrington, Maya Beiser, Hilary Hahn, and poet Quincy Troupe, among others. He has recorded as composer and pianist for New World Records, Evidence Records, Music & Arts, Passin' Thru Records, Yamaha's Original Artist Series, Steinway Spirio, and Wergo Records. His works are published by Margun Music, G. Schirmer, and Leonellis Music. He is a recipient of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award in Music and a Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Scholar Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Fox was recently featured on the Emancipation 150 Series, presented by WQXR, part of The NEXT New York Conversation and the Coca-Cola Generations in Jazz Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Says Howard Mandel (Senior contributor to Down Beat, arts segment producer on National Public Radio, author of Miles Ornette Cecil - Jazz Beyond Jazz and Future Jazz): "Internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and improviser Donal Fox is simply without peer. He is a bravura concert artist whose performance of bracingly original repertoire such as Peace Out for Improvised Piano and Orchestra and The Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project have earned him prestigious honors...gratifying residencies and appointments... and the awed applause of critic and audiences alike. Audacious and exacting though Fox's music is, he communicates directly and seeks to elevate everyone's musical interactions beyond expectation and conventions. Fox has a singular presence in today's circle of serous cultural activists."

Find Me

Donal Fox
Job Title: Composer/Pianist/Educator
Phone: 617-821-0145
Fax: 617-427-6539
Address:
Leonellis Music
14 Highland Park Ave
Boston, MA 02119-1439

Social Media:

Additional Content:

About

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

1993

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

1993

Disciplines

Primary Discipline:

Music - General

Additional Disciplines:

  • Music - Solo / Recital

Activities and Services

Activities and Services:

  • Arts for Social Change / Creative Activism
  • Curriculum Development
  • Performance / Concert / Reading
  • Residency - In School
  • Residency - Other
  • Workshops / Demonstrations / Master Class
Seasons Active: spring, summer, fall, winter
Events Per Year: 5

Communities

Populations Engaged:

  • Adults
  • Elders
  • Families
  • General Public
  • Nonprofits
  • School Groups

Geographic Reach:

  • National
  • International

I Have Worked With

Affiliations and Accomplishments

Awards

Awards:

  • Academy Award in Music (2008
  • Förderverein Foundation (2004)
  • Tyrone Guthrie Foundation (2003)
  • CalArts/Alpert Award/Ucross Foundation (2002)
  • Djerassi Foundation (1999)
  • Bogliasco Foundation, Italy (l998)
  • )John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1997)

Awards

Awards:

  • Academy Award in Music (2008
  • Förderverein Foundation (2004)
  • Tyrone Guthrie Foundation (2003)
  • CalArts/Alpert Award/Ucross Foundation (2002)
  • Djerassi Foundation (1999)
  • Bogliasco Foundation, Italy (l998)
  • )John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1997)

Education

Education:

  • NEC, Tufts University, Tanglewood Music Center

Artist Info

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • School / University

Ages Served:

  • Elementary School-age
  • College-age
  • Adults

Subject Areas:

  • Music

Certifications and Training:

  • Martin Luther King Visiting Scholar Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Guggenheim Fellow

Fee range:

$4,000 - $25,000

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • School / University

Ages Served:

  • Elementary School-age
  • College-age
  • Adults

Subject Areas:

  • Music

Certifications and Training:

  • Martin Luther King Visiting Scholar Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Guggenheim Fellow

Fee range:

$4,000 - $25,000

Touring Artist

NEST Eligible Artist

Fee Range:

$4,000 - $25,000

State of Residence:

Massachusetts

Minimum Number of Performers:

1

Maximum Number of Performers:

4