Francis Pott (composer)

Francis John Dolben Pott (born 25 August 1957) is a British composer, pianist, senior academic and university administrator.

He held open music scholarships at Winchester College and Magdalene College, Cambridge, studying composition at the latter with Robin Holloway and Hugh Wood while also pursuing piano studies as a private pupil of Hamish Milne in London.

For many years Pott was the John Bennett Lecturer in Music at St Hilda's College, Oxford. 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. He later became Head of both Composition and Research Development in Music, Media and Creative Technologies.

In February 2007 Pott was appointed to the University's first Chair of Composition. He holds the degrees B.A. [Hons], Mus.B. and M.A. University of Cambridge and Ph.D. University of West London, as well as a [Composition] Fellowship of London College of Music [F.L.C.M.] and a Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy [P.F.H.E.A.]. He was a member of Winchester Cathedral Choir 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

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. In the 2004 Barlow International Composition Award (USA) he was placed Second out of a global entry by 362 composers, receiving Honorable Mention. In both 2006 and 2011 he was a nominated finalist in the choral section of the BASCA Annual Composer Awards in London.

Pott's current compositional projects include a concerto for cor anglais and orchestra (the composer's second instrument being the oboe), a violin concerto and a large-scale symphony.

In February 2008 Pott was a keynote speaker alongside James MacMillan and Jonathan Harvey at a conference, 'Contemporary Music and Spirituality', convened at London's South Bank Centre by Dr Robert Sholl (for London College of Music) in association with the Royal Musicological Association.

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