Helen Davey Cox has had a career as a musician, composer, improviser, playwright and song-writer in music-theatre, poetic world/folk, jazz & experimental genres. Her passion is 'sound-painting' in cross-arts contexts, creating music in direct dialogue with other art forms. She is a multi instrumentalist (voice, prepared/piano, zither, accordion, lap harp, guitar, percussion and found objects) and has released five CDs of original material.
During the 1980s and 1990s she performed on Melbourne's live music circuit averaging 180-200 gigs a year. From 30s & 40s jazz standards and her original songs, she moved into world-folk, a-cappella, and improvisational music styles. Completing a Bachelor of Education (music) in 1991, Helen went on to co-write, produce, direct and compose for large scale music-theatre productions for children for a decade.
In 2005 she relocated to Switzerland and recorded her debut CD From Another Room, worked in several ensembles and toured with Dodo Hug and Effisio Contini. Since her debut CD, Helen has recorded four more CDs: Carvings (2011), Trans-Lations (2013), March Equinox and June Solstice albums (2014) from her online “Project 52 Sound-Paintings”.
Early 2008 Helen joined Zurich's womens music collective, womeninmusic.ch as a teacher of voice, piano and song-writing. She also became a resident musician for Zuerich's Playback Theatre-Bumerang, and has since worked with a number of Playback Theatre troupes internationally.
In 2010 Helen founded her cross-arts “Salon Series”, performing interactive Sound-Paintings with text, visual, movement and theatre artists. The Salon Series is an ongoing project and will continue during 2026 featuring a number of collaborative artists in the upcoming Salonettes (cross-arts events in a tiny venue).
After completing further studies in composition for film in Bonn (2020) Helen created sound tracks for short films, whilst continuing her roles in several music and theatre groups. Since returning to Australia in 2025, Helen's music activities revolve around composition, improvisation, coaching and her Salon Series.
