Biography
Jo-anne Cox, a London-based performer and composer, concentrates her practice on electric cello repertoire. She characterizes her approach in these terms: "My soul is at one with my beautiful sparkling purple Dragon cello. Together we create mesmerising sonic worlds that embody the sensitivity of my Neurodivergence." Extensive partnerships with musicians, actors, and stage directors underpin her output. In 2024 her piece Galwad y Mynydd featured on Letting the Light In, an anthology of works by disabled British composers.
Alongside her original electric-cello compositions, Cox has developed material classified as sensory theater, specifically inclusive sensory theater projects. These frequently employ a "sensory room" in which she fashions distinctive soundscapes and visual landscapes, often alongside other artists. Her stylistic range spans electronic, experimental, folk, and contemporary classical idioms.
Key projects encompass "Enter the Dragon's Cave," created for young people "with the most barriers to access" and integrating soundscape, storytelling, puppetry, and music technology, together with "Defiant Journey," an interactive format that combines cello with "vibrotactile technology, digital instruments, and audience sensory engagement." She has appeared across London and throughout Britain at Battersea Arts Centre during the 40th birthday celebration of the Oily Cart organization that pioneered sensory theater, at Queen's Theatre Centre Stage Scratch Night, at the Ealing Extranormal experimental music series, and in a solo recital at London's Round Chapel for the Avant Day Centre radio program presented by Leon Clowes.
Collaborations recur throughout her work. Cox recorded electric cello on a release by the anarcho-punk band The Astronauts and appeared with disability-rights songwriter John Kelley at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall for the launch of his album Better Late Than Never. She has partnered repeatedly with artist and art therapist Elinor Rowlands. Her first appearance on the 2024 album Letting the Light In, issued by pianist Siwan Rhys and containing several pieces connected with Rowlands, was the Welsh-landscape evocation Galwad y Mynydd. The recording, released on the NMC Recordings label, entered the U.K. Specialist Classical Chart at number ten.
Alongside her original electric-cello compositions, Cox has developed material classified as sensory theater, specifically inclusive sensory theater projects. These frequently employ a "sensory room" in which she fashions distinctive soundscapes and visual landscapes, often alongside other artists. Her stylistic range spans electronic, experimental, folk, and contemporary classical idioms.
Key projects encompass "Enter the Dragon's Cave," created for young people "with the most barriers to access" and integrating soundscape, storytelling, puppetry, and music technology, together with "Defiant Journey," an interactive format that combines cello with "vibrotactile technology, digital instruments, and audience sensory engagement." She has appeared across London and throughout Britain at Battersea Arts Centre during the 40th birthday celebration of the Oily Cart organization that pioneered sensory theater, at Queen's Theatre Centre Stage Scratch Night, at the Ealing Extranormal experimental music series, and in a solo recital at London's Round Chapel for the Avant Day Centre radio program presented by Leon Clowes.
Collaborations recur throughout her work. Cox recorded electric cello on a release by the anarcho-punk band The Astronauts and appeared with disability-rights songwriter John Kelley at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall for the launch of his album Better Late Than Never. She has partnered repeatedly with artist and art therapist Elinor Rowlands. Her first appearance on the 2024 album Letting the Light In, issued by pianist Siwan Rhys and containing several pieces connected with Rowlands, was the Welsh-landscape evocation Galwad y Mynydd. The recording, released on the NMC Recordings label, entered the U.K. Specialist Classical Chart at number ten.