Christopher Norton (born 1953) is a New Zealand-born British pianist and composer. Norton showed early promise as a musician. He began composing at the age of 14, and, by the age of 16, had an orchestral work performed and broadcast. He gained a first-class honours degree in music from the University of Otago in 1974. He taught music in Wellington high schools, worked as a Composer-in-Schools for a year, then free-lanced as a composer, arranger and pianist. Christopher Norton moved to the UK in 1977 on a New Zealand Government Scholarship. In 1980 he embarked on a free-lance career and within a short time was published. His earliest publications were with Universal Edition in London, and included Carol Jazz — improvisations on Christmas tunes — and Sing'n'Swing, for choir, piano and percussion. In 1983, Norton was signed by Boosey & Hawkes, with whom he has had a long and fruitful association, and the first of the Microjazz series appeared — music which appealed greatly to children and teenagers but was sufficiently rooted in the classical tradition to be useful as teaching material. The series has established itself as a leading educational music series around the world, and has expanded over 20 years to include music for all of the major instruments with piano, ensemble books and midi file backings. It is now the biggest selling music series for Boosey & Hawkes, with over a million sales to date. Norton's other award-winning publications with Boosey & Hawkes include the Essential Guides to Pop, Latin and Jazz Styles, the Rock, Country, Latin and Jazz Preludes series, and the Christopher Norton Concert Collections. Other recent additions to Norton's published works include a CD-ROM, So You Wanna Be a Pop Star, tutors for electronic keyboard and guitar and a volume in Boosey & Hawkes' Buy A Band range. Christopher Norton regularly tours, giving workshops on his material in many countries, including Australia and New Zealand, Canada and the USA, Holland, Spain, Germany and Malaysia and Singapore. Norton also works as a record producer for a variety of labels, most recently for EMI and Virginia in North America. He also works extensively as a writer of music for television and has made many production music albums, for KPM and Cavendish Music among others. Christopher Norton is also a publisher in his own right. His latest venture with the Novus Via Music Group involves the creation of a piano series for North American students that offers traditional skills in the context of popular styles. Christopher Norton maintains his own website, where he personally answers questions about his music via an online forum.
