Alison Cox OBE is a British composer, educator, project manager and founder of numerous innovative musical initiatives recognised in the UK and internationally.
In 1974, she became the first female composition student at the Royal Northern College of Music, studying with Dr Anthony Gilbert and winning the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize and the Edward Hecht Prize. A grant from the RVW Trust enabled her to study film music in Australia (1978–9), where she collaborated with the NSW State Conservatorium of Music and composed several award-winning film scores.
After gaining a PGCE (1981), she taught music in sixth form colleges, creating experimental ensembles and youth orchestras before joining The Purcell School in 1988. There she founded the UK’s first-ever Composition Department in a specialist music school, which she continues to lead.
Alison has organised major collaborations with ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, BBC Singers, Nash Ensemble and Southbank Centre, and initiated large-scale projects for young people in prestigious venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall.
In 2004, Alison worked with two Purcell School pupils (Kit Downes and Mica Levi; now both highly successful creative musical entrepreneurs) to create IMPULSE, a pioneering pupil-led outreach programme, and established other training initiatives such as the Y11 Outreach Course and Strings and Things (later the Purcell Chamber Music Academy). She also co-founded the Sound and Music Summer School for Young Composers (2008–2023), inspiring hundreds of young musicians over the years. In 2022 she worked with a group of Purcell School tutors to run a highly successful Online Composition Academy for young composers around the world, who were all stuck at home during the pandemic. Additional roles have included tutoring at South-West Music School, leading composition for Pro Corda courses and running major community projects such as Hertfordshire’s Five Gold Rings (2012, awarded an Inspire Mark by the London Olympics).
In 2005, Alison founded The Commonwealth Resounds, an accredited NGO and registered charity working across the Commonwealth. The organisation has led outreach projects in Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, and staged high-profile events at CHOGM meetings in Malta, Uganda, Trinidad, Australia, Sri Lanka, London, Malta and Samoa. Notable projects include the Commonwealth Festival Orchestra (Sri Lanka 2013), five major events for CHOGM London 2018, the Commonwealth International Composition Award (2019) and the worldwide beacon-song project for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee (2022). She continues to develop training and cultural exchange programmes with overseas partners, including Antigua and Barbuda, The Gambia, Uganda, Cameroon, India, New Zealand and Samoa.
Alison has also directed special musical events for Buckingham Palace, Commonwealth Day services at Westminster Abbey and international collaborative projects such as PIANORAMA (2009), PANORPHEUS (2015) and SCRAWL (2022). She has published widely on music education and outreach, most recently presenting ‘Music Education in the Commonwealth’ at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Ministers’ Meeting and ‘The Role of Music and the Creative Industries in Building Resilience’ at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings in Samoa (October 2024).
Her voluntary commitments include serving as Trustee of The Commonwealth Resounds, the Margaret Engering Music Trust and the Yorke Trust. She was awarded a National Teaching Award (2010), an OBE for Services to the Community (2012) and continues to influence global music education and outreach.