John Amis
Encyclopedia
John Preston Amis is a British
broadcaster, classical
music critic, music administrator, and writer. He has been a frequent contributor for The Guardian
and to BBC
radio and television music programming.
Born in Dulwich
, London
in 1922, he is the cousin of the novelist Kingsley Amis
. He was educated at Dulwich College
, where he began a lifelong friendship with his contemporary, Donald Swann
. A serious bout of mastoiditis
as a child left him deaf in his left ear. He began his career working in a bank for five and a half weeks before leaving to earn a living in music. Amis had a number of roles, including gramophone record
salesman, and orchestra
manager (at one point turning pages for Dame Myra Hess
), before becoming a music critic, initially with The Scotsman
in 1946. He was for several years manager for Sir Thomas Beecham.
In 1948 Sir William Glock
invited him to run a summer school for musicians at Bryanston School
, Dorset. The summer school moved to Dartington
in 1953. Amis remained administrative director until 1981, during which time he brought to the school a long line of international musicians, amongst them Hindemith
, Stravinsky
, and Tippett.
Amis' short career as a tenor
began with a minor role in the 1967 recording of Herrmann's cantata
Moby-Dick
, and following this he made his opera
tic debut in 1990 as the Emperor in Turandot
.
From the 1950s onwards, Amis became a regular contributor to BBC Radio
's music output, and worked on BBC Television from 1961, producing and presenting documentaries, and introducing the BBC2 magazine programme Music Now. As a broadcaster, he is probably best known for his appearances as a team member, from 1974 to 1994, on the BBC Radio 4
panel show, My Music, replacing David Franklin
. His own radio show on Radio 3
interviewed musicians and contemporary witnesses such as Isaiah Berlin
. For many years he wrote a column on music in The Tablet, England's best-known Catholic magazine.
His friends in the music industry included Donald Swann
, Noel Mewton-Wood
and Felix Aprahamian
, for whom he wrote a tribute following Aprahamian's death in January 2005. He was also closely associated with Gerard Hoffnung
and organized many of Hoffnung's concerts until the latter's untimely death in 1959; he performed a comic duet from The Barber of Darmstadt with Owen Brannigan
at the 1961 Hoffnung Festival.
In 1949, he married the violinist Olive Zorian. The marriage was dissolved in 1955 and Zorian died in 1965.
He has written a number of books, on his own Amiscellany label, with titles including My Music in London: 1945-2000. Amis spends much of his time giving talks and one-man shows, after dinner speeches and concert works. Amis is a patron of the Music Libraries Trust and the Tait Memorial Trust, and is vice-president of the Putney Music society.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
broadcaster, classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
music critic, music administrator, and writer. He has been a frequent contributor for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and to BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio and television music programming.
Born in Dulwich
Dulwich
Dulwich is an area of South London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1922, he is the cousin of the novelist Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, along with works of social and literary criticism...
. He was educated at Dulwich College
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...
, where he began a lifelong friendship with his contemporary, Donald Swann
Donald Swann
Donald Ibrahím Swann was a British composer, musician and entertainer. He is best known to the general public for his partnership of writing and performing comic songs with Michael Flanders .-Life:...
. A serious bout of mastoiditis
Mastoiditis
Mastoiditis is an infection of mastoid process, the portion of the temporal bone of the skull that is behind the ear which contains open, air-containing spaces. It is usually caused by untreated acute otitis media and used to be a leading cause of child mortality. With the development of...
as a child left him deaf in his left ear. He began his career working in a bank for five and a half weeks before leaving to earn a living in music. Amis had a number of roles, including gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
salesman, and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
manager (at one point turning pages for Dame Myra Hess
Myra Hess
Dame Myra Hess DBE was a British pianist.She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, but was best known by her middle name. At the age of five she began to study the piano and two years later entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the Gold Medal...
), before becoming a music critic, initially with The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
in 1946. He was for several years manager for Sir Thomas Beecham.
In 1948 Sir William Glock
William Glock
Sir William Frederick Glock was a British music critic and musical administrator.-Biography:Glock was born in London. He read history at the University of Cambridge and was an organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
invited him to run a summer school for musicians at Bryanston School
Bryanston School
Bryanston School is a co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in Blandford, north Dorset, England, near the village of Bryanston. It was founded in 1928...
, Dorset. The summer school moved to Dartington
Dartington Hall
The Dartington Hall Trust, near Totnes, Devon, United Kingdom is a charity specialising in the arts, social justice and sustainability.The Trust currently runs 16 charitable programmes, including The Dartington International Summer School and Schumacher Environmental College...
in 1953. Amis remained administrative director until 1981, during which time he brought to the school a long line of international musicians, amongst them Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
, Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, and Tippett.
Amis' short career as a tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
began with a minor role in the 1967 recording of Herrmann's cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
Moby-Dick
Adaptations of Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville which describes the voyage of the whaleship Pequod, led by Captain Ahab, who leads his crew on a hunt for the whale Moby-Dick...
, and following this he made his opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic debut in 1990 as the Emperor in Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
.
From the 1950s onwards, Amis became a regular contributor to BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
's music output, and worked on BBC Television from 1961, producing and presenting documentaries, and introducing the BBC2 magazine programme Music Now. As a broadcaster, he is probably best known for his appearances as a team member, from 1974 to 1994, on the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
panel show, My Music, replacing David Franklin
David Franklin (broadcaster)
David Franklin was a British opera singer and broadcaster.Born in London in 1908, David Franklin originally trained as a schoolteacher. A bass singing in amateur productions, he was discovered in 1934 by John Christie, the founder of the Glyndebourne festival...
. His own radio show on Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
interviewed musicians and contemporary witnesses such as Isaiah Berlin
Isaiah Berlin
Sir Isaiah Berlin OM, FBA was a British social and political theorist, philosopher and historian of ideas of Russian-Jewish origin, regarded as one of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century and a dominant liberal scholar of his generation...
. For many years he wrote a column on music in The Tablet, England's best-known Catholic magazine.
His friends in the music industry included Donald Swann
Donald Swann
Donald Ibrahím Swann was a British composer, musician and entertainer. He is best known to the general public for his partnership of writing and performing comic songs with Michael Flanders .-Life:...
, Noel Mewton-Wood
Noel Mewton-Wood
Noel Mewton-Wood was an Australian-born concert pianist who achieved some fame during his short life.-Life and career:...
and Felix Aprahamian
Felix Aprahamian
Felix Aprahamian , born Apraham Felix Bartev Aprahamian, was an English music critic, writer, concert promoter, publisher's adviser, supporter of young musicians, and friend to some of the last century's most notable musicians...
, for whom he wrote a tribute following Aprahamian's death in January 2005. He was also closely associated with Gerard Hoffnung
Gerard Hoffnung
Gerard Hoffnung was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works.- Early years :Born in Berlin, and named Gerhard, he was the only child of a well-to-do Jewish couple, Hildegard and Ludwig Hoffnung...
and organized many of Hoffnung's concerts until the latter's untimely death in 1959; he performed a comic duet from The Barber of Darmstadt with Owen Brannigan
Owen Brannigan
Owen Brannigan OBE was an English bass, known in opera for buffo roles and in concert for a wide range of solo parts in music ranging from Henry Purcell to Michael Tippett...
at the 1961 Hoffnung Festival.
In 1949, he married the violinist Olive Zorian. The marriage was dissolved in 1955 and Zorian died in 1965.
He has written a number of books, on his own Amiscellany label, with titles including My Music in London: 1945-2000. Amis spends much of his time giving talks and one-man shows, after dinner speeches and concert works. Amis is a patron of the Music Libraries Trust and the Tait Memorial Trust, and is vice-president of the Putney Music society.