Armando Fox (Music Director; armandofox.com) has done over 20 Altarena shows, most recently 2024’s Pal Joey, and is always happy to be back. He’s also worked at CCCT, Custom Made, 42nd Street Moon, Theatre Rhinoceros, and elsewhere, occasionally receiving awards or nominations for his work. Thanks to this energetic and dedicated cast, and especially to Jacquie, Shelly, and Vicki for being such well-organized and generous collaborators. You created an environment in which all of us can both do our best work and fun doing it! As far as Armando knows, he’s the author of the best book on music direction written by a computer scientist (pianoconductor.com) and the best computer science textbook written by a music director (saasbook.info). By day he is a computer science professor at UC Berkeley. Check out his other ongoing music project at CantosDeMiTierra.com.
Armando Fox is a classically trained (since age 5) pianist who completed pre-conservatory training at the Mannes College of Music, New York (now part of the New School). There he studied piano performance with Michael Boriskin and others, as well as music theory, ear training, ensemble performance, choir, arranging, the whole enchilada. He grew up in New York City and loves the theater; he’s Music Directed about two dozen shows and played in pits for many others. Other theater contributions include original orchestrations for Ron Lytle’s Oh My Godmother! and workshop arrangements for The Man Who Saved Christmas (which were replaced for the CD recording, so the ones on the CD aren’t his work); ambitious reductions (usually to 6 or fewer pieces) of Man of La Mancha, Merrily We Roll Along, Assassins, and others; and additional original arrangements for Cabaret, Assassins, and others. As far as he knows, he’s the author of the best book on music direction written by a computer scientist and the best computer science textbook written by a music director. He also plays actual 80s vintage synthesizers in the 80s cover band Disposable Pop; his previous cover bands, including Spoon and More at Eleven, have been finalists in MIT’s Battle of the Bands, surely a distinction far more prestigious than the Grammy Awards.
Armando Fox is a classically trained (since age 5) pianist who completed pre-conservatory training at the Mannes College of Music, New York (now part of the New School), where he studied piano performance with Michael Boriskin and others as well as music theory, ear training, ensemble performance, choir, arranging… the whole enchilada. He grew up in New York City and loves musicals; he’s Music Directed about thirty of them, including several original orchestrations or reductions for both classic and new works.