Charles Uzor was born in Nigeria in 1961. He came to Switzerland during the Biafra War. After graduating from high school in St. Gallen, he studied oboe and composition in Rome, Bern, and Zurich. From 1986 to 1990, he received a fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music in London for postgraduate oboe studies with Gordon Hunt, graduating in 1990 with a recital diploma and a master's degree in composition with Malcolm Hill and Hans Werner Henze. He completed his dissertation on melody and inner time awareness in 2005 at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Uzor's oeuvre includes operas, dance, orchestral, and choral works, but his main interest lies in works for small ensembles and voice:
Canto I (after G. Ungaretti), Ricercare, Akhenaten's Hymnos to Aton, Notre Vie, Go, Zimzum, a chantar...
In connection with electronics, Uzor explores the phenomena of identity and deception. In Nri/mimicri, birdsong is deepened by eight octaves and imitated by the Ondes Martenot.
2016-2023 saw the creation of Ave Maria I-V, sweet amygdala, Hier in diesem zierl’chen Prunkgebäude after Robert Walser, qui ainsi me refait…., Mothertongue, sephardic lilt.mimicri, spleen.mimicri, the trilogy George Floyd in memoriam (8’46’’/ Bodycam exhibit 3/ Katharsis Kalkül), merrusch (after Astrid Kaminski) and the orchestral works Qualia, Parmenides Prooimion and Breaking of the Vessels.
Ptyx, OENM, KammarensembleN, London Sinfonietta, BBC SSO, LFCO, ICE, Ekmeles, Amaltea, DLW, Duo Aventure, the SWR Vocal Ensemble, the Bavarian Radio Choir, and the conductors Rupert Huber, Christian Karlsen, Ivan Volkov, and Mariano Chiacchiarini have performed Uzor's work at the Bern, Rümlingen, Viitasaari, Fylkingen, Wien Modern, Lucerne Festival, Maerzmusik, Huddersfield Contemporary Music, and Tectonics Glasgow music festivals. In 2024 Charles Uzor participated in George Lewis' Berlin Symposium always, already there. Uzor's fourth Neos CD POLITICAL was released in 2025, featuring The Great Wall: A Labyrinth in a recording by Ekmeles. Uzor's recent works are nids et territoires and ORIRI (banquet). Uzor is a fellow of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation and director of the forum contrapunkt.new art music. Since 2015, he has been working on the opera Leopold II. exhibit.
