Francis John Dolben Pott (born 25 August 1957) is a British composer, pianist and academic.
Life
Following early training as a chorister at
New College, Pott held open music scholarships at
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...
and
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...
, studying composition at the latter with
Robin Holloway
Robin Greville Holloway (born 19 October 1943) is an English composer, academic and writer.
Early life
Holloway was born in Leamington Spa. From 1953 to 1957, he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral and was educated at King's College School, ...
and
Hugh Wood
Hugh Wood (27 June 1932 – 14 August 2021) was a British composer.
Biography
Wood was born in Parbold, Lancashire and grew up in a musical family; while still a teenager, he was encouraged by the composer Alan Bush. He says that his "earlies ...
while also pursuing piano studies as a private pupil of the late
Hamish Milne
Hamish Milne (27 April 1939 – 12 February 2020) was an English pianist known for his advocacy of Nikolai Medtner.
Milne studied at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury and then at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he taught, and ...
in London. He holds
BA,
BMus
Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of presc ...
and
MA degrees from the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
and a
PhD from the
University of West London
The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire.
The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Col ...
, as well as a Fellowship of London College of Music (FLCM) and a Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA). He was a member of
Winchester Cathedral Choir
Winchester Cathedral Choir is an internationally recognized professional choir based at Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire. The choir currently consists of 18 boy choristers and 12 lay clerks and sings eight services weekly in the Cat ...
under
David Hill from 1991 until 2001, touring the USA, the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany, France and Norway and also participating in many CD recordings and broadcasts
For many years Pott was John Bennett Lecturer in Music at
St Hilda's College, Oxford
St Hilda's College is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it ...
. In 2001 he was appointed administrative and academic Head of the
London College of Music, one of the eight Schools within the
University of West London
The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire.
The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Col ...
. He later became Head of both Composition and Research Development in Music, Media and Creative Technologies, and in February 2007 was appointed to the University's first Chair of Composition, a position which he still occupies despite taking partial retirement in 2018.
Pott has received many national awards as a composer and in 1997 gained first prize in the second
S. S. Prokofiev International Composing Competition in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. In the 2004 Barlow International Composition Award (USA) he was placed second out of a global entry by 362 composers, receiving an honorable mention. In both 2006 and 2011 he was a nominated as a finalist in the choral section of the
BASCA
The Ivors Academy (formerly the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy exists to support, protect, and campaign for the interests ...
Annual Composer Awards in London. In 2020 he was announced as recipient of the Medal of the Royal College of Organists - its highest award - in recognition of distinguished achievement as a composer of organ and sacred choral music.
In February 2008 Pott was a keynote speaker alongside
James MacMillan
Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor.
Early life
MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...
and
Jonathan Harvey at the Contemporary Music and Spirituality conference convened at the
South Bank Centre
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge).
It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
by
Robert Sholl for the London College of Music, in association with the
Royal Musical Association
The Royal Musical Association (RMA) is a British scholarly society and charity. Founded in 1874, the Association claims to be the second oldest musicological society in the world, after that of the Netherlands. Activities include organizing and sp ...
.
Pott has appeared frequently as a two-piano duo recitalist with
Jeremy Filsell
Jeremiah Daniel Filsell (born 10 April 1964) is an English pianist, organist and composer who currently serves as director of music at Saint Thomas Church, New York City.
Biography
Having played piano and organ from a young age, Filsell wa ...
and Roger Owens. He is writing an extended critical study of the works of the Russian composer
Nikolai Medtner
Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (russian: Никола́й Ка́рлович Ме́тнер, ''Nikoláj Kárlovič Métner''; 13 November 1951) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. After a period of comparative obscurity in the 25 years immedi ...
, on whose music he is an authority. His existing publications in prose include a chapter on his own music in the book 'Contemporary Music and Spirituality', edited by Robert Sholl and Sander van Maas (Routledge, London & New York, 2016; ).
Pott lives near
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
. His two adult children have both followed in his musical footsteps.
Works
Pott's works have been performed and broadcast in over 40 countries worldwide, issued extensively on CD and published by five major houses in the UK. His monumental organ symphony ''Christus'' was described in 1992 as "one of the most important organ works of our century", and in 1999 as "an astonishingly original composition, compelling in its structural logic and exhilarating in performance: a stupendous achievement". His
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
''A Song on the End of the World'', named after a
Czesław Miłosz
Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation ...
poem from
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
-occupied
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
and written as the last pre-millennial
Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
Commission of the
Three Choirs Festival
200px, Worcester cathedral
200px, Gloucester cathedral
The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featu ...
at
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
, was hailed as "thrilling, apocalyptic and profoundly affecting".
His 89-minute oratorio for tenor solo, double chorus and organ, ''The Cloud of Unknowing'', received international acclaim following its premiere in May 2006 at the
London Festival of Contemporary Church Music
The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music is an annual music festival held in London.
History
The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music was founded in 2002 by Christopher Batchelor at St Pancras New Church. Batchelor remains ...
(
James Gilchrist, tenor,
Jeremy Filsell
Jeremiah Daniel Filsell (born 10 April 1964) is an English pianist, organist and composer who currently serves as director of music at Saint Thomas Church, New York City.
Biography
Having played piano and organ from a young age, Filsell wa ...
, organ, and the
Vasari Singers
Vasari Singers is one of the UK's leading chamber choirs, led from its founding by Jeremy Backhouse. Vasari performs regularly in most of London’s major concert venues and taken part in numerous commercial concerts and festivals, including the BB ...
under their conductor, Jeremy Backhouse) and the CD release by the same artists in September 2007 (Signum Records). In January 2012
Naxos
Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...
released Pott's sacred choral works, performed by the Oxford-based chamber choir
Commotio under the direction of Matthew Berry.
Pott's piano music is championed by the Russian-Canadian
virtuoso
A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...
Alexander Tselyakov Alexander Tselyakov (born 1954) is a Russian-Canadian classical concert pianist and educator.
Alexander Tselyakov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan and made his professional début as soloist with the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra in his native So ...
, and his organ works by the British organist Jeremy Filsell. Other works include sonatas for violin, viola and cello (one for each, all with piano) and many songs, including song cycles. Further works for chorus and orchestra include 'The Lost Wand' (2015, setting texts by
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...
,
Karen Gershon and
Vernon Scannell
Vernon Scannell (23 January 1922 – 16 November 2007) was a British poet and author. He was at one time a professional boxer, and wrote novels about the sport.
Personal life
Vernon Scannell, whose birth name was John Vernon Bain, was born i ...
– the title is taken from a line of Scannell's) and 'Cantus Maris' (2016, incorporating an important solo part for mezzo-soprano).
In December 2013 Pott signed an exclusive contract with Peters Edition in London, to cover all his future choral and organ work and items from his back catalogue that remain unpublished. His piano and chamber music is published by Composers Edition.
Pott's 'Cantus Maris'
ea Requiem for mezzo-soprano solo, chorus and orchestrawas premiered at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, in May 2017. Among his recent works, a further Requiem-based work, 'At First Light' for chorus a cappella and cello solo, was globally released in 2020 and was a nominee for the US Grammy Awards.
Pott's current compositional projects
021include a violin concerto and a large-scale symphony.
References
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/3365--interview-francis-pott-on-word
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pott, Francis
British composers
1957 births
Living people
Academics of the University of West London
Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford
People educated at Winchester College
Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge
Choristers of New College, Oxford
Principal Fellows of the Higher Education Academy