On this site you can listen to extracts of music by composer Christopher Best, download score samples, find information on purchasing scores and recordings, read articles and fiction that he has written and learn about his current projects. Chris is always keen to discuss creative projects, commissions or performances of his work. It is the life-blood of any composer to be writing and to be heard. If you are a performer, conductor, choreographer, visual artist, director or writer etc looking for fresh musical dimensions, then please make contact.

Christopher Best at Torre Abbey: the location that inspired the composition 'How Great, How Fall'n'

About me

As a composer...

Christopher Best is a freelance composer who lives and works in Devon, England. In his thirty-one years as a composer he has written well over forty major works and received much critical acclaim. Major successes include Northern Ireland’s ‘Sonorities’ prize, a four month Danish Government grant to work at the Copenhagen Conservatoire, commissions from Emilyn Claid and Co, Scottish Dance Theatre, Bimba Dance Theatre, Jamaican National Dance and the SPNM. Works have been written for ensembles including ‘Aquarius’, ‘Jane’s Minstrels’, ‘Kokoro’, the choir of Selwyn College Cambridge and ‘Onyx Brass’, as well as for several distinguished soloists. Many of my pieces have also been short-listed and selected by the SPNM reading panel.

Recent output includes; ‘Echoes of a Lost Music’ for the guitarist Matthew Marshall (recently toured throughout New Zealand), ‘Still Beating’ for the harpist Ruth Wall (premiered at Wapping Power Station, London), ‘How Great, How Fall’n’ for the John Armitage Memorial concert season, ‘Dolya Nash Krai’ for voices, electric guitar and gamelan (shortlisted by the SPNM reading panel) and a 60 minute CD ‘Waking Dance’.

"....This is lovely music for dance, and it develops in a delightful way...."
(Howard Skempton - composer)

"....Courageous in its simplicity and deserves to be heard."
(SPNM Reading panel)

Much of Chris's recent work has been for contemporary dance, with major commissions from Claid & Co, Scottish Dance Theatre, Bimba Dance Theatre and Jamaican National Dance. REQUEST CV

Poster for the dance piece 'Twilight Tempest'

Dartington College
of Arts (Lower Close)

As an educator...

Chris is currently senior lecturer in music composition at University College Falmouth in Cornwall. For the last twelve years he has worked at Dartington College of Arts, becoming a ‘Reader in Music Composition’ in 2001. Before that, he designed and ran the country's first Higher National Diploma and BA Degree courses in composition at Coventry University. He has twice been artistic director (music) of the Composers/Choreographers Exchanges at the South Bank in London and has gone on to conduct similar workshops in Spain, Holland and Sweden. He now co-runs m&de (the Music and Dance Exchange) at Dartington College.

As a writer...

For the past five years Chris has been busy expanding his creative work into the realms of fiction writing. In addition to short stories and a pilot TV script, he has also completed two novels: 'The Moor Inn Fire' and 'Mobius'. He has also written articles on music and dance collaboration, and created or adapted texts for his own compositions. More information and downloads can be found on the writing page.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Kate Mount, Indra Thiagarajah, Su Mo, Elana Solomon and Peter Best for the photos. Also to Lewis Fitzjohn (aka DJ Allergy) for setting up and hosting this website.

Website designed and built by Christopher Best.