Donal Fox (born ) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

improviser Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

in the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and classical genres. He was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

composer-in-residence with the

St. Louis Symphony The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is the second-oldest professional symphony or ...

(1991–1992). In 1993 he was a visiting artist at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. From 2009–2011, he was Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Scholar at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. Donal Fox is a

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

Artist. Fox's works have been performed at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. The concerto "Peace Out" for Improvised Piano and Orchestra was premiered at Zankel Hall in 2009, where Fox was the piano soloist. "Peace Out" was commissioned and performed by the American Composers Orchestra. His piece, "Hear De Lambs A-Cryin," was performed at Stern Auditorium in 2011 by the Albany Symphony Orchestra.

Awards and honors

He received a 1997 Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition and a 1998 Fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation. In 2008, Fox was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award in Music.

Relatives

Donal Fox is the eldest of six siblings. His brother Brian Fox is a computer programmer and the original author of GNU Bash shell. Donal is the paternal grandson of artist Daniel Fox, creator of the Monopoly Man.Assoc. of Game and Puzzle Collectors Quarterly www.AGPC.ORG summer 2013 Vol.15 No. 2. Page 18. ''Meet Dan Fox-- The Artist Who Created "Mr. Monopoly"'' by Philip E.Orbanes

References

Biography at AllAboutJazz.comBiography at Schirmer.comView From the East: The Talented Donal Fox

External links

Donal Fox: performing at the Greene Space on April 24, 2013
1952 births Living people African-American artists American artists African-American classical pianists American classical pianists American male pianists African-American jazz pianists 20th-century American pianists 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists American male jazz musicians 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians {{US-jazz-pianist-stub