Harmony of the Spheres

Join me for a greatest hits concert of uplifting choral music on Saturday 1 August, 3:00pm
Location: Lower Mountains Anglican Parish, 1 Wascoe Street, Glenbrook

The great composers of sacred music painted glorious sound worlds to inspire and uplift us. Here is music which evokes the turning of the heavens or the singing of angels, echoing the philosophy that the whole of the universe makes a wonderful music, if we could hear it. I’ve selected some of my favourite choral works, which I think come closest to capturing that ideal. Be transported by exquisite masterpieces by Saint-Saéns, Schubert, Fauré, Bach, Mendelssohn and more…

Albert Morris lives

It was a pleasure to return to conducting the Phoenix Choir this year. It’s given us a chance to at long-last resurrect a project that has been in the making since 2020. Finally, I can announce that the first preview of Albert Morris will take place on Saturday November 28, 2026 at the Phillips Hall in Blackheath. This will still be a excerpts concert and an introduction to the whole piece, rather than the finished product, work on which continues - albeit slowly.

The Phoenix Choir kickstarted composition during the first covid lockdown in 2020. Our planned ‘Introducing Albert Morris’ concert was postponed and finally abandoned due to the second lockdown. I’ve continued to write at a glacial pace since then and can now report that, in addition to the 20 mins of commissioned choruses, in November I’ll be presenting an additional 2 choruses, 2 new arias, assorted recits, and a musical prelude. The story will be fleshed out with some narration. A soprano and tenor soloist will join us, along with a small orchestra of string quintet, clarinet, horn and piano.

It’s going to be an exciting time so keep your eyes posted. Tickets will be available very soon.

Upcoming May Concerts

May is just around the corner and it’s shaping up to be a big month of music in the mountains. There is something on almost every weekend so it would be great to have your support. Here are the projects I’ll be involved in this month.

This Sunday 3 May, Penrith City Choir presents Showtunes – with hits from all your favourite old timey musicals. I conduct the choir with accompanist Jane Andino and we’ll be  joined by Jane’s fellow Tres Amigas alum Ann Paulmbo on Double Bass. Performance is at Melrose Hall, Emu Plains. https://www.trybooking.com/DJJQL

Jane Andino features again in another exciting cross-cultural new music concert presented by composer Tony Wheeler at 3pm on Sunday 17 May at the Blackheath Uniting Church. Many Strings, Miraculous Tones features traditional and contemporary pieces and some non-western instruments such as the erhu and qin. Very excitingly, it will also see the premiere of a new piece of mine. For Weedy Seadragon is a recently completed work for clarinet, vibraphone and piano. The piece itself has been ‘under construction’ for about 20 years (I’m not joking) and I’m thrilled to see it finally emerge. https://www.trybooking.com/DKZMR

On Saturday 9 May at 3pm Harmoni Chamber Choir presents Art in Harmoni at the Phillips Hall in Blackheath. This remarkable newly formed choir led by Alex Pringle specialises in rich 8-part harmony. They received a standing ovation at last year’s Choir Festival prompting the organisers to invite them back for this special event.  I highly recommend this concert to all you choral singers in particular! https://events.humanitix.com/art-in-harmoni/tickets

This year, I returned to conducting the Phoenix Choir. Our first concert together for 2026 will be the monumental and oh so sublime Mass No 6 by Franz Schubert in Eb Major. Performances are at 3pm on Saturday 23 May at Wentworth Falls School of Arts and Sunday 24 May 2026 at Hoskins Uniting Church in Lithgow. We have four wonderful soloists joining us for what should be a unique concert.  https://phoenixchoir.org.au/tickets/

Last but not least (phew), the amazing Julie Adams returns to Blackheath Uniting Church for a recital of solo piano works on Sunday 31 May at 3pm.  After completing her CD, “The Land of My Early Childhood – Piano Music of Béla Bartók” Julie has ventured further afield to explore various connections Bartók had with composers in his native Hungary and also abroad. The Bartók Connection will shed light on some differing styles of music composed in the early 20th century. https://www.trybooking.com/DKIUH

Julie Adam's CD now available

Blessings for the (in Australia at least) Autumn Equinox,

Many of you will remember the concert I co-presented last year at the Hoskins Uniting Church in Lithgow, with the incomporable Julie Adam, in which she presented excerpts from her then upcoming CD featuring Béla Bartók's 'Mikrokosmos' and the lovely 'For Children', recorded in her native Hungary.

I’m very happy to that the fruit of all her labours has been released and is now availble to purchase. You can pick up a physical copy here at her website: www.julieadampiano.weebly.com

Or, also digitally available online here at Native DSD or HighResAudio

I hope you will consider supporting her. Congratulations, Julie!

I join the Australian Music Centre

Hello everyone,

Happy 2025 to you all! In case you were wondering, it usually always takes me until now to put my head above the parapet and start the year. Not due to idleness, but because my January is always so filled with choir prep for term 1, I’ve always felt that Chinese New Year is a much more civilised time to renter the world. Happy year of the Snake.

I wanted to report that my great news for 2024 was my inclusion in the Australian Music Centre as an Associate Artist. My bio is now up on the site and my compositions have started to be included in their library. A portion of the sales made through the AMC is kept by them to support their excellent work in the championing of Australian composition and maintaining the world’s most extant library of Australian music. I’m very thrilled to have been accepted amongst their ranks.

Check me out at the Australian Music Centre here: https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/fox-rowen

New video uploads

Spring greetings to you all,

I thought you would like to be kept abreast of recent uploads to my Youtube channel. The first is the third movement from the premiere of the Wind Quintet No.1. I spent a lovely afternoon taking footage of the beautiful Blackheath Creek which runs through the Kanimbla Valley. It’s one of my favourite spots and I think it suits the desired mood of the piece perfectly. I hope you enjoy!

Secondly, my diehard fans will have seen that a couple of months ago I uploaded the full concert performance of my 2016 opera Chang’E and the Moon. The whole thing was painstakingly subtitled by yours truly over several days, so in the future viewers can better follow the story. In my humble opinion, it was worth the re-listen, I’m still immensely proud of it!

Many Blessings, Rowen

2 concerts in April!

Happy March Equinox everyone,

I’ve been having a busy start to 2024 with preparations for not one, but two concerts featuring my music. Firstly, on Sun April 7th at 2pm, at the Glenbrook Baptist Church, I conduct the Penrith City Choir in a performance of contemporary choral works entitled With a Voice of Singing, featuring a new chorus from my oratorio-in-progress Albert Morris.

This concert will also contain 5 world premieres of new Australian music including pieces by Jane Andino and David Morris. It also features the amazingly talented soprano Julie Jong Eun Barber, newly arrived back in Australia from Europe. Some of you will remember Julie, as having played Nightingale in the premiere of my opera Chang’E and the Moon. Julie will perform my 2017 ‘Two songs from the Dream of the Red Chamber’ which is getting its first outing as a complete set. She’ll also perform two songs by the under performed Australian composer Roy Agnew.

Tickets: $25/$20/$5

https://www.trybooking.com/CPPTI

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The following Sunday April 14th at 3pm, you can join me in concert at the Hoskins Uniting Church in Lithgow, where I’ll be supporting the world-class talent that is local pianist Julie Adam.

In May, Julie will travel to Hungary to record Béla Bartók's 'Mikrokosmos' and his delightful early piano album entitled 'For Children'. In this preview performance before she jets off, Julie will present the complete Vols 1 and 2 of 'For Children' and a small selection from Mikrokosmos, as well as the Schubert Bb impromtu. I will join Julie to sing a few songs by Brahms, Schubert, and for the first time in public, will perform my own ‘2 Songs in the Modern Style’ .

Tickets: $30/$25/$15

https://www.trybooking.com/CPWMB

All in all, some fun little projects to keep me out of trouble. I hope you will consider joining me….

Esquisses for piano

Greetings to you all, on an introspective new moon day.

Thanks to those of you who supported my recent Blackheath recital, performing with the phenomenally talented pianist Julie Adam, and mezzo-soprano, Elizabeth Cooper. In a project to push my comfort zone, Elizabeth and I sang duets, arias and lieder, wonderfully supported by Julie. One of the project’s unexpected delights was having the opportunity to premiere three new short piano “sketches” - Esquisses in French - written especially for Julie.

Before relocating to the Blue Mountains in 2010, Julie Adam studied and lived in the UK, winning early a number of prestigious awards and scholarships. Her performing career as solo pianist has taken her to Europe and the USA and she has recorded extensively as soloist and ensemble player for the BBC and the ABC. Most notably, Julie is one of the foremost interpreters of the 20th century Swiss composer Frank Martin, having recorded his entire works for piano, available here on the ABC Classics label.

In short, Julie is a world-class talent, and someone I feel very privileged to write for. The Esquisses are short works based on just a few musical ideas, minimally developed. They arose from my desire to learn to work faster; to create pieces that I wouldn’t feel I had to fuss over endlessly. “Just sketch it and move on” was the theory. In practice, I can’t be quite so cavalier as all that, but it’s nevertheless been delightfully instructive to bring my works to Julie and discover how much variety can be created within small forms.

I hope you enjoy these live recordings from the day. Please forgive the odd ambient sounds. Here are my first three Esquisses for piano.

Rowen

Esquisse No.1

Rowen Fox / Julie Adam: piano

Esquisse No.2

Rowen Fox / Julie Adam: piano

Esquisse en rondo (No.3)

Rowen Fox / Julie Adam: piano

Sonata for Horn and Piano EP Release

Greetings to you, on a glorious winter day here in Mt Victoria. It is with much pleasure and excitement that I can announce the arrival of the new recording of my Sonata for Horn and Piano, by local studio Elkwood DXD/DSD.

Featuring the marvelous Robert Johnson and Phillip Shovk, the album is available to purchase here in high resolution audio at NativeDSD, iTunes, Apple Music, and Tidal. Alternatively it’s available here for streaming on Spotify.

My thanks as always to the talented performers and to producer Craig Field at Elkwood Studios.

Happy listening!