Gavin Dixon is an academic, writer, and editor based in Hertfordshire, UK. His studies with Professor Alexander Ivashkin at Goldsmiths, University of London, led to a PhD on the symphonies of Alfred Schnittke in 2007. Since then, he has continued to be active in Schnittke scholarship, as a Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths and as a member of the editorial team for the Alfred Schnittke Collected Works edition, currently being published in St Petersburg. Gavin is also a Curator of Musical Instruments at the Horniman Museum in London. As a journalist, Gavin has contributed to a wide range of music publications including Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, Tempo, Classical Music, and Limelight (Australia). He is also Music Editor of Fanfare, America’s leading classical CD review magazine.
It is hard to imagine a more cogent introduction to and summary of Schnittke scholarship. Schnittke Studies is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in his music, as well as those who may be itching to take up some of the less explored areas of his work and influence. - Ian Power in Tempo, July 2017 In many ways this is the book on Schnittke we have all been waiting for. It brings together an international group of scholars working on Schnittke's legacy from many different perspectives, but all of them acknowledging a tremendous debt to the work of Alexander Ivashkin, to whose memory the collection is dedicated.(...) In sum, this collection of essays is essential reading for anyone interested in Schnittke's legacy. It shows the diversity of possible approaches in evaluating his work, and the way in which new scholarship both builds on earlier research and expands it into new and fascinating areas. - Ivan Moody, CESEM - Universidade Nova, Lisbon Dr Dixon is to be congratulated on assembling a strong and varied team for this handsomely produced memorial volume. The complexity of Shnittke's music and thought are very evident, so that it is principally a book for musicologists rather than the casual general reader, despite the lucidity of much of the writing. The collection makes a major contribution to understanding the fascinating composer to whom Ivashkin devoted so much of his career both as a scholar and as an outstanding performer. - Arnold McMillin, SLAVONIC & EAST EUROPEAN REVIEW, July 2017