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Donal Fox

Visiting Scholar 2009-2011 Internationally acclaimed classical jazz composer, improviser and pianist
Through our scientific and technological genius, we've made of this world a neighborhood. And now through our moral and ethical commitment, we must make of it a brotherhood.
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Background

Donal Fox is an internationally acclaimed classical and jazz composer, improviser and pianist. He received early training at the New England Conservatory of Music and then at Berklee College of Music in the summer of 1968. He also studied at Tanglewood Music Center, where he wrote classical music and performed jazz and classical piano in the presence of Leonard Bernstein and Gunther Schuller.

Interests

Throughout his two years as an MLK Visiting Scholar at MIT, Fox taught musical improvisation (21M.335), in keeping with his goal to “revive the tradition of improvisation that characterized the performance of great composers of the past, Bach, Mozart, Liszt, and many others, but that is rare today.”

In addition to teaching, Fox performed as a guest artist with MIT’s Festival Jazz Ensemble and premiered the work Peace Out for Improvised Piano and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

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