Alexey Shor

Shor was already a mathematician with a doctorate and a working life in finance when he began to compose in 2012, in his forties. Born in Ukraine, he writes deliberately tonal, melody-led music: concertos, sonatas, orchestral suites, chamber works and the ballet Crystal Palace, with Seascapes, Verdiana, Travel Notebook and The Well-Tempered Chanson among his works. He has been composer-in-residence with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and associate composer at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and holds an honorary professorship from the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan. Biographical accounts place his birth in Kyiv or its surroundings. He completed his higher education in the United States. Breitkopf & Haertel and P. Jurgenson publish his scores, recordings have appeared on Warner Classics, Decca, Sony Classics and Delos, and the overture to Crystal Palace was played at the fortieth Gramophone Classical Music Awards in London. He has also been resident composer of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and, since 2017, of the Malta international music festival and its piano competition, and the Komitas professorship dates from 2018. He was appointed composer-in-residence of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2024–25 and 2025–26 seasons.