James Poke (born 1963 in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is a musician, primarily known as artistic director and co-founder of the ensemble

Icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

. Poke studied music at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

and composition with

Erich Urbanner Erich Urbanner (born 26 March 1936) is an Austrian composer and teacher. Biography Born in Innsbruck, Urbanner studied from 1955 to 1961 at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, in the composition classes of Karl Schiske and Han ...

at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. With

John Godfrey John Ferguson Godfrey, (born December 19, 1942) is a Canadian educator, journalist and former Member of Parliament. Background Godfrey was born in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Senator John Morrow Godfrey (June 28, 1912 – March 8, 2001), ...

he founded Icebreaker in 1989. As well as running the group, he also plays

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

pan-pipes A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

and WX11 wind synthesiser in the ensemble. He has arranged many pieces for Icebreaker and produced or co-produced several of Icebreaker's albums. He also works as a music copyist. He also has a strong interest in politics and is currently chair of the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, chairs the West Surrey branch of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and has twice stood for election as a councillor for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

Mole Valley Mole Valley is a local government district in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Dorking. The other town in the district is Leatherhead. The largest villages are Ashtead, Fetcham and Great Bookham, in the northern third of the district. ...

Discography

Playing flutes, pan-pipes, wind synthesiser and keyboards: * Icebreaker, Official Bootleg (ICC, 1991, live album, cassette only) *

Graham Fitkin Graham Fitkin (born 19 April 1963) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres. Described by ''The Independent'' in 1998 as "one of the most important of our younger co ...

, Hook, Mesh, Stub, Cud (Argo, 1993) (with Icebreaker) * Short Cuts – Breaking the sound Barrier – An Argo Sampler (Argo, 1994) (with Icebreaker) * Icebreaker, Terminal Velocity (Argo, 1994) * Icebreaker, Trance (Argo, 1996) * Century XXI UK A–M (New Tone, 1996) (with Icebreaker) *

Bang on a Can Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted contemporary classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Called "the cou ...

, Industry (Sony Classical, 1995) * Icebreaker, Rogue's Gallery (New Tone, 1997) * Icebreaker,

Diderik Wagenaar Diderik Wagenaar (born 10 May 1946 in Utrecht) is a Dutch composer and musical theorist. Life and work Wagenaar has lived and worked all his adult life in The Hague. Born to a musical family that includes Johan Wagenaar, he began playing piano at ...

(Composers' Voice / Donemus, 2001) (also co-producer) * Icebreaker, Extraction (between the lines, 2001) (also producer) * Bang on a Can,

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

: Gigantic Dancing Human Machine (Cantaloupe, 2003) * Icebreaker, Trance (Cantaloupe Music, 2004) (also producer) * Icebreaker, Cranial Pavement (Cantaloupe Music, 2005) (also co-producer) * Icebreaker, Terminal Velocity (Cantaloupe Music, 2005) (also producer) * Icebreaker, Music with Changing Parts (Orange Mountain Music, 2007) (also producer)

References

External links

Icebreaker websiteIcebreaker Apollo websiteIcebreaker MySpace siteWest Surrey Palestine Solidarity CampaignNicaragua Solidarity Campaign
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poke, James 1963 births Living people Alumni of the University of York English flautists