Christopher Best - composer

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Christopher Best is a freelance composer based in the South West of England writing mostly concert, stage and acousmatic music. Groups to have commissioned him include the Fisarchi Ensemble of Florence, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Emilyn Claid & Co., Scottish Dance Theatre, Bimba Dance Theatre and Jamaican National Dance. Works have also been written for ensembles such as Aquarius, Jane's Minstrels, Kokoro, the choir of Selwyn College Cambridge and Onyx Brass.

In making new work, Chris places particular emphasis on collaborating with performers and is grateful for having had the opportunity to do so with such distinguished musicians as accordionist Miloš Milivojević, cellist Rohan de Saram, flautist William Sleath, harpist Ruth Wall, guitarist Matthew Marshall and organist Daniel Moult. His music has received widespread critical acclaim and been performed and broadcast internationally.

Since 2010 Chris has held a senior lectureship at Falmouth University, having formerly been Reader in music composition at Dartington College of Arts in Devon. He has taught extensively throughout the UK and abroad, and co-directed residential music and dance exchanges in Devon, London and Madrid.

Recent output includes; Clarion Song' for trumpet and organ; 'Odes and Episodes' and 'Echoes of a Lost Music', both for electric guitar; 'They Fall, They Dance' for flute and string quartet; 'Scending' for flutes and accordion and 'Fragilities' for flutes and cello (for a more comprehensive list of compositions please refer to the 'Works' page).