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Chris Dench was born in London in 1953 and grew up in Dover; he is self-taught as a composer. After periods living in Tuscany and West Berlin, the latter as a guest of the DAAD Künstlerprogramm, he settled in Australia and is now an Australian citizen.

His works have been performed by the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble 'Accroche Note' of Strasbourg, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Exposé, Ensemble InterContemporain, Music Projects/London, and the Xenakis Ensemble. Soloists who have championed his work include Michael Finnissy, Andrew Ball, Giuseppe Bruno, Rolf Hind, Nancy Ruffer, Ian Pace, Stephanie McCallum, James Clapperton and the late Yvar Mikhashoff. A CD of Dench's music for flute performed by the virtuoso flautist Laura Chislett was released by Etcetera (Amsterdam) in 1993.

Shunga (1981)
mezzo-soprano, ensemble - 6'
bass flute, oboe d'amore, piano and percussion

Enoncé (1983-84)
chamber ensemble (15 players) - 19'
fl/pic/alto/bass fl, ob/ca, cl/bass cl, bn/cbn, hn, tpt, bass trb, 2 perc, 2 vn, va, vc, db

Strangeness (1985)
string quartet - 11'

Recueillement (1985/6)
chamber ensemble (8 players) - 8'
fl/alto/bass fl, cl/bass cl, alto trb, perc, vn, va, vc, db

Topologies (1975)
solo piano - 11'

Time (1981)
solo bass clarinet - 6'

Caught Breath of Time (1981)
solo flute - 11'

Tilt (1985)
solo piano - 8'

Esperance (1986)
solo piano - 3'

Dé/ployé (1987)
solo piccolo - 8'

Funk (1988)
bass clarinet and 1 percussion - 9'

Sulle Scale della Fenice (1986-89)
solo flute - 9'

Vier Darmstädter Aphorismen (1986-89)
flute/piccolo/alto flute/bass flute - 13'

Closing lemma (1992)
solo flute - 10'