John Potter
Emeritus Reader

Profile

Biography

John Potter’s discography runs to some 150 titles ranging from medieval song to music by Luciano Berio, Arvo Pärt and Sting. He was a member of the Hilliard Ensemble for 18 years and was a major contributor to the Officium album with saxophonist Jan Garbarek, subsequently developing many of the ideas in the Dowland Project's four albums for ECM and his later work with the
Alternative History Quartet. He produced the Scandinavian Trio Mediaeval’s first three albums for ECM and is co-producer of their album of music from the 15 th century Old Hall Manuscript.

John’s Open University PhD thesis became the basis of his first book Vocal Authority (Cambridge University Press, 1998). He subsequently contributed to two Cambridge Histories, edited The Cambridge Companion to Singing and co-wrote with Neil Sorrell A History of Singing (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Other publications include Tenor: History of a Voice (Yale University Press, 2009) and Song: a History in 12 Parts (Yale University Press, 2023). His Chrismas Carols: an English Enchantment is due to be published by Yale in 2026.

John is a sometime British Library Edison Fellow and a former Artistic Director of the Tampere International Vocal Festival. He joined the Music Department in 1999, created the MA in Vocal Studies and founded The 24, the Department’s chamber choir. He became Reader Emeritus in 2010 and continues to write and coach, and occasionally perform.