John Potter is an author, occasional singer and vocal ensemble coach. His books on singing are published by Cambridge and Yale University Press; his current book is Song: a History in 12 Parts (Yale UP, 2023). He has an extensive discography on ECM and is Reader Emeritus in Music at the University of York, UK.
John's eclectic performing experience has ranged from first performances of works by Berio, Stockhausen, James Dillon, Arvo Pärt, Gavin Bryars and Michael Finnissy to backing vocals for Manfred Mann and The Who (among others). Red Byrd, the group he founded with bass Richard Wistreich, recorded music as diverse as Monteverdi (both straight and with electric guitars), Leonin (3 albums for Hyperion) and John Paul Jones (for Factory Records); with the Conductus Ensemble he made three further albums of 12th century music for Hyperion, and as a member of the Anglo-German ensemble The Sound & the Fury, made seventeen albums of rarely-heard Franco-Flemish polyphony. John’s long term musical collaborators include lutenists Ariel Abramovich & Jacob Heringman and soprano Anna Maria Friman (performing as Alternative History) and the Dowland Project (John Surman saxophones, Stephen Stubbs lute, Maya Homburger violin and Barry Guy bass – and more recently Milos Valent (violin & viola) and Jacob Heringman lute). His most recent albums for ECM include music by Josquin, Victoria, Tony Banks, John Paul Jones and Sting. John’s performing life has been a crucial influence on his writing and research since his first book Vocal Authority (Cambridge University, 1998).
John was a member of the Hilliard Ensemble for 18 years and was a major contributor to their million-selling Officium album with saxophonist Jan Garbarek. Moving on from the group he spent ten years as a lecturer at the University of York, leaving as Reader Emeritus to develop his freelance performing, recording and writing projects.
Photo: Guy Carpenter