Artist in Residence: Elijah Fox
Elijah Fox is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and producer based in Los Angeles, CA. Raised in Durham, NC, he began playing piano at age 11 under the mentorship of Yusuf Salim — a pianist who once played alongside Charlie Parker — and soon found his way into local jazz clubs. He went on to study at Oberlin Conservatory with Sullivan Fortner, Billy Hart, Dan Wall, and Gary Bartz, graduating in 2017 before relocating to New York City.
Fox's piano composition "East Village" was sampled by Drake and 21 Savage on "Major Distribution," which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. As a producer and collaborator, he has worked with SZA, Masego, YG, ScHoolboy Q, Denzel Curry, Tate McRae, Musiq Soulchild, Childish Gambino, Kali Uchis, J. Cole, and many others, alongside a growing catalog of original compositions and sample packs. His impressionistic solo piano piece "Wyoming" went viral on TikTok and has surpassed 20 million streams on Spotify.
Signed to UMPG as a writer/composer, Fox also serves as touring keyboardist for UK drummer Yussef Dayes, performing across the globe, and has headlined sold-out shows of his own original music throughout the US and Europe. His sound moves fluidly between jazz, Impressionism, and psychedelic soul. Fox also releases instrumental work under the alias Soren Sostrom.
Texpressionism: Inspirations
- Monday November 9 | 7:30 pm
- Musikhalle, 1703 Heights Blvd
- Tickets $25 | Included in $60 Season Pass
Every new genre starts somewhere. Inspirations traces the threads that come together in Texpressionism, pairing contemporary works by jazz pianist Elijah Fox and composer Ben Morris with the French masters whose sound worlds echo through their music.
The program unfolds as a series of conversations between old and new. Fox's intimate piano miniature Wyoming opens onto the "Blues" movement of Ravel's Violin Sonata No. 2, where Impressionism meets American blues. Debussy dissolves into Morris's Aromatic for viola and piano. Fox's Greenpoint leads into Nadia Boulanger's Trois Pièces for cello and piano, a rare chance to hear the composer who taught a generation of American musicians. The evening closes with Ravel's String Quartet, one of the most luminous works in the chamber repertoire.
Ambient City: Elijah Fox
- Tuesday November 10 | 7:30 pm
- Art Club, POST Houston
- Tickets $25
Multi-instrumentalist and producer Elijah Fox is the rare artist who moves as easily through a Billboard session as through a jazz standard.
In Ambient City, Fox steps into the spotlight of the Art Club for an intimate solo performance on keyboards. Building on the lush, synth-driven world of his 2025 album Ambient Works for the Highways of Los Angeles, the set drifts between jazz, impressionism, and psychedelic soul — cinematic and built for late-night listening. It's a soundtrack for the city, evoking the hum of traffic, the glow of skylines, and the quiet between conversations, and an opportunity to hear him up close in one of Houston's most striking spaces.
Texpressionism: The Premiere
- Friday November 13 | 7:30 pm | Musikhalle
- Saturday November 14 | 7:30 pm | Musikhalle
- Tickets $40 | Included in $60 Season Pass
Elijah Fox's music moves easily between lush melody, ambient texture, and hypnotic groove; composer Ben Morris has reimagined it for string quartet, bass, and piano. The resulting suite, developed over a weeklong creative lab with the festival's ensemble, is part chamber music, part improvisation, and part ambient soundscape, as Fox improvises through shimmering string textures and full orchestral color. Highlights include Fox's viral composition Wyoming, reimaginings of Impressionist favorites by Ravel and Debussy, and Stormy Monday, the blues classic by Texas-raised electric guitar pioneer T-Bone Walker.
