Foskett’s music, encompassing concert, dance and theatre works, has been performed at festivals throughout Britain, as well as in Europe, the United States and India. Most recently Foskett composed a piano trio for the London-based Agon Trio, which premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in June 2007 and which has since toured to other venues. In July 2007 Foskett’s accordion piece, Mis, written for the Serbian accordionist Milos Milivojevic premiered at the Deal Festival.
In 2006 clair-obscur premiered Three Pieces for Saxophone Quartet at the Konzerthaus, Berlin, a collection of commissions from the past few years. Foskett’s association with the group began in 2000 when they premiered …dance merrily through the park at BKA, Berlin. This led the group to commission two subsequent pieces, Sounded (2003) and the more upbeat In a round (2005). The third piece of the set comes from a commission from the New York-based Euphonique, who premiered C in NY at the Remote Lounge in New York’s East Village in 2003.
Foskett has also completed two further saxophone commissions: Trying to see more (2004), for soprano saxophone and piano, was premiered at the Purcell Room by John Barker and Timothy Sidford as part of the Kirckman Concert Society Young Artist’s Series, and Bench (2005), for alto saxophone and piano, was commissioned for the first international saxophone masterclass in Laubach, Germany, and premiered by Jan Schulte-Bunert.
The ensemble piece Es gibt einige hohe Wellen (2002) was performed by the London Sinfonietta at the State of the Nation festival at the Queen Elisabeth Hall and was later submitted to the International Rostrum of Composers after having been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Five Night Pieces (2001) was also performed at the festival by British pianist Sarah Nicolls in the Purcell room and was likewise broadcast on Radio 3.
Foskett’s involvement with the London Sinfonietta continued in 2002 when he was selected as part of the Blue Touch Paper project – a Sinfonietta initiative intended to nurture young British talent – to work with the Sinfonietta on the creation of a new piece. After engaging in close collaboration with the Sinfonietta players over the course of a year, Foskett composed Violin Concerto for the principle violinist Clio Gould. It was subsequently performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2004, conducted by Oliver Knussen. The piece was then revived in a BBC invitation concert (2005), conducted by Nicholas Kok and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
In 2002 he wrote a new piece for the Sounds New Festival, Suburban Nightmares, performed by Claire Booth and the Bergamo Ensemble. This was Foskett’s second major vocal work, a setting of haiku by the London-based poet and theatre director Dave Hollander, following the vocal work Three Gascoyne Settings. The Gascoyne Settings, written whilst in his final year at College, were renderings of poems by the British poet David Gascoyne, and were performed by Alison Wells and the RCM Sinfonietta conducted by Edwin Roxburgh in 2001.
Foskett’s music has also featured twice at the Park Lane Young Artists series: Hornet, for solo clarinet, was written for and premiered by Andrew Mason in 2001, and Wind Quintet, performed by the Zephyr Ensemble of London the following year.
In 2002 Foskett began to write for dance when asked by Indian choreographer Preeti Vasudevan to contribute a score. The result, What I see / What I get (2002), was premiered in the Laban Centre in London before being performed at the Joyce Theater in New York. Foskett has since worked closely with Vasudevan and her dance company, Thresh, in the creation of a new work, NN ... rememory ... reality (2003), which premiered in Williamsburg, New York. The two pieces have now been performed extensively across America, India and Europe, including the Almada dance festival in Portugal.
Foskett’s move into music for dance was further extended in 2005–6 when he was commissioned to write a full-length narrative ballet, The Scarlet Pimpernel, for the London Children’s Ballet, choreographed by David Fielding. This was performed in a week long run at the Peacock Theatre, London.
Other performances include: Endymion Ensemble, Britten Sinfonia, Tempest Saxophone quartet, London Brass, Dave Eggar, Chroma, Manson Ensemble, West London Sinfonia and Mark van de Wiel.
Finally, Foskett also works widely in film, pop and theatre as an arranger and orchestrator. Commissions include: The Divine Comedy’s live orchestral album (2004), orchestrations for the National Theatre production of Theatre of Blood (2005), arrangements for the London-based dance company Ballet Boyz (2006) and orchestration work on films such as The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse (2005), Death at a Funeral (2007), Penelope (2007) and Son of Rambow (2007). Other projects include an extended arrangement of the Elvis Costello track Almost Blue for the Spitalfields Festival, London, in 2003, performed by Olivia Chaney and the Manson ensemble and a sax quartet version of Motörhead’s The Ace of Spades.
A number of Foskett’s works are available on recording, including: Violin Concerto, dance merrily through the park, Filter Tip Tango, Three pieces for saxophone quartet and The Scarlet Pimpernel (DVD).