Geoffrey Norris (born 1947) is an English musicologist and

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mu ...

. His scholarship focuses on Russian composers; in particularly, Norris is a leading scholar on the life and music of

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

, about whom he has written in numerous articles and a 1976 book-length study. He was chief classical music critic of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' from 1995 to 2009.

Life and career

Geoffrey Norris was born in London, England in 1947. An enthusiast of Russian culture since his youth, Norris attended the

University of Durham , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_ch ...

and where his undergraduate dissertation concerned The Five, a leading group of 19th-century Russian composers. Original fro
MiamiPianoFest
He continued his studies of Russian music at the

Russian State Institute of Performing Arts The Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (russian: Российский государственный институт сценических искусств), formerly known as St Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy, formerly Leningrad State ...

. From 1995 to 2009, he was chief classical music critic of ''

''. Norris has been a lecturer at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music educatio ...

and numerous other universities, as well as a jury member for many piano competitions. Norris currently teaches at the Rachmaninoff Music Academy, London and the Gnesin Music Academy, Moscow. Norris' scholarship focuses on Russian composers, and in particular,

. He has written numerous articles, and a book length study on Rachmaninoff, whose works he catalogued in a 1982 publication with Robert Threlfall.

Selected publications

Books

* *

Articles

* * * *

References

External links

Articles by Geoffrey Norris
in ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Geoffrey 1947 births Living people People from London English musicologists English music critics Classical music critics Alumni of Durham University