“Killing Me Softly” is a song most college students know by The Fugees or Roberta Flack. For former UCLA Professor Charles Fox, it is the most well known song he has composed.
The American Youth Symphony performed the United States premiere of Fox’s recent piece “Lament and Prayer” Sunday at 7 p.m. in Royce Hall.
Fox taught UCLA graduate courses in music composition for five years with a focus on teaching his students how to compose for music and film. He has created many known theme songs for shows such as “The Brady Bunch” to “The Love Boat” have helped earn Fox both an Emmy and a Grammy for his work. Fox has also composed hundreds of songs with artists such as Johnny Cash, Fred Astaire, Carly Simon and Ice T.
Fox explained the biblical piece, “Lament and Prayer,” is based on the lament written by Pope John Paul II to the children of Abraham on the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
“It was my opportunity to write something to express my feeling about the significance, strength and importance of what John Paul’s words meant,” Fox said.
The Los Angeles Children’s choir performed Fox’s piece alongside the symphony. Janneke Straub, executive director of the American Youth Symphony, explained that Fox’s piece is oratorical and requires a choir to help.
“This is a very special concert for us because of the work of Charles Fox. … This oratorical requires a quite important children’s chorus. We hope to bring a very large and diverse community to Royce Hall for this concert,” Straub said.