The Sir Arnold Bax Society was founded in 2024 with the intention of sponsoring and promoting Bax's music, through performances, recordings, and the publication of critical-performing editions. You can find out more about our charity on this page.
- Our Trustees
- Our Regional Representatives
- Our Student Representative
- Our Trajectory
- Our Charity's Object, a brief overview of its constitution, and a download link for the entire Constitution.
- Minutes from our AGMs
Our Trustees
Chairman - Richard R. Adams
Richard R. Adams is a licensed clinical social worker currently employed by the US Federal Government to work with US military families in Italy. He is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, and he received undergraduate degrees in piano performance and mass-communications journalism from the University of Utah. He received his Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He founded the arnoldbax.com website in 1996 and has been editing it ever since.
Treasurer - Christopher Atkinson
Christopher Atkinson completed his undergraduate in Piano Performance at Trinity Laban (winning numerous prizes for chamber music) and his MA in Piano Accompaniment from the Royal Academy of Music. His passion for Bax began after hearing The Garden of Fand on his father's record player. Following a chance encounter with Graham Parlett at the Proms in 2008, he developed a much deeper appreciation of Bax's music. He has subsequently performed the Viola Sonata, Legend for Viola and Piano, Clarinet Sonata, songs, and numerous solo
piano works in recitals throughout the UK and Europe. He is currently working on a project of transcribing the tone poems for solo piano.
Secretary - George Owen
George Owen is a professional cellist, composer, conductor, and music publisher based in South Wales. He performs with Welsh National Opera, the SoundWorld band (contemporary classical and cross-genre), and the Shui Mo ensemble (pan-Asian contemporary music) as his primary projects. His compositions have been played by BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Worcester Philharmonic Orchestra. He is currently studying a PhD in Composition at the University of Bristol under Prof John Pickard, where George also conducts the University Symphonia Orchestra in repertoire like Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony. He also runs the publishing company OwenOrchestration, which has recently worked on scores like Bax's Spring Fire and Symphonic Variations.
Trustee - Eric McElroy
Eric McElroy is an American composer, pianist, and musicologist. Described as “one of the leading composer-pianists of his generation” (Musical Opinion), he has performed throughout North America and Europe and been praised for both his “stunning virtuosity” (Seen and Heard International) and “intellect with flair” (BBC Music Magazine). A prolific composer, his works have been performed in Germany, Austria, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Eric’s 2023 debut-CD, Tongues of Fire (SOMM Recordings), features his own song-cycles as performed by himself and the distinguished tenor James Gilchrist and was released to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. His CD of unpublished songs by Ivor Gurney with baritone Marcus Farnsworth was released by Naxos in October 2024, followed by An English Pastoral from SOMM with violinist Chu-Yu Yang in 2025. Further CDs are forthcoming from SOMM in 2026. Eric holds degrees in piano performance from Washington State University, Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien, and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In 2023, he completed his doctorate in musicology under the supervision of Daniel Grimley at the University of Oxford. Eric is the Editor of the Arthur Bliss Society Journal. His book on the composer John Ireland will be published by Boydell & Brewer in 2026.
Trustee - Dr Claire Colebourn