Malcolm Fox

Born in England, the composer Malcolm Fox studied at the Royal College of Music and the University of London. His notable teachers included Gordon Jacob and Humphrey Searle. He served as Director of Music for a contemporary arts-in-education company, The Cockpit Theatre, that created school concerts and workshops around London. He moved to Australia in 1974 to join the music faculty of the University of Adelaide.

Among his many commissions written for chamber groups, choruses, and orchestras, he was awarded Australia’s prestigious John Bishop Memorial Commission in 1980 which led to the violin concerto, In Memoriam.

Fox was an expert on the operas of Wagner who also created popular operas for children, including Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing (1977) about a snake finding its artistic voice and The Iron Man (1987) who was a scrap-metal being that saved the Earth.