Robert Fokkens
Composer
Robert Fokkens’ music is performed and broadcast internationally, published by Composers Edition and Tetractys Publishing, and recorded on Nimbus, Métier, Herald, Naxos and other labels.
Robert’s music works across boundaries of style, using techniques and materials learned from many musical worlds, creating music of twisted cycles and microtonal inflections described as ‘hilarious’, ‘sad [and] strange…express[ing] more than anything else’ (Times).
Recently, his opera Bhekizizwe was premiered on the BBC Wales ‘Gwyl 2021’ online festival and toured in Wales (2022), his violin and cello duo Pier Music was premiered at the Penarth Chamber Music Festival by David Adams and Alice Neary, followed by further performances, and the European and South African premieres of Mzantsi Nights was performed and broadcast in Cologne and Johannesburg by Ensemble Modern (2023). His string trios Dawn Chants on the Umfolozi and Limping Song were released on First Hand Records in April 2025 in premiere recordings by Karolos.
Robert is Reader in Composition and directs the Contemporary Music Group at Cardiff University, and is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.