Christopher Norton
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Christopher Norton (born 1953) is a New Zealand-born British pianist and composer.
Norton showed early promise as a musician and gained a first-class honours degree in music from Otago University 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, first by Universal Edition, then by Boosey & Hawkes, with whom he has had a long and fruitful association.
The Microjazz series, which Norton published in 1984, has established itself as a leading educational music series around the world and the Essential Guides series have also been very well received by teachers and students in many countries. 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 Buy A Band. Christopher Norton has presented 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 Virgina 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 students that offers traditional skills in the context of popular styles.