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John Amis
John Amis
John Amis
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John Preston Amis (17 June 1922 – 1 August 2013) was a British broadcaster, classical music critic, music administrator, and writer. He was a frequent contributor for The Guardian and to BBC radio and television music programming.

Key Information

Life and career

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John Amis was born in Dulwich, London, son of James Amis, whose elder brother, William, was father of the novelist Kingsley Amis. James Amis, wealthier than his brother, "held a post in the merchant bank of Seligmann Brothers in Austin Friars", earning "a respectable £800 a year"; the family's house at West Norwood was "a semi-detached, red-brick affair with... a little lawn at the back with vegetables and a loganberry bush at the bottom"; despite the perceptible difference between the Amis brothers' fortunes, John Amis recalled no "feeling of social difference between Norbury (where Kingsley Amis was raised) and West Norwood. We both lived in dreary houses in dreary streets." Amis was educated- "fully paid for"-[1] at Dulwich College (having also attended its preparatory school), 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 during the wartime concerts at the National Gallery.[2]), before becoming a music critic, initially with The Scotsman in 1946. He was for several years manager for Sir Thomas Beecham, and also worked for the London Philharmonic Orchestra.[3]

In 1948, William Glock invited Amis 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 Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, and Sir Michael Tippett.

Amis' short career as a tenor began with the role of Ishmael in the 1967 recording of Bernard Herrmann's cantata Moby-Dick. He made his operatic debut in 1990 as the Emperor in Turandot.[4] Amis had started singing in earnest after 1959: in that year he attended Professor Frederick Husler's [1] s singing class at Dartington 'just for fun', and was told not only that he had the makings of a Heldentenor, but that he ought to go to Germany to study.[5]

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, also appearing in the television version. It was on this show that he disclosed an unexpected talent as a skilled siffleur. His own radio show on Radio 3 interviewed musicians and contemporary witnesses such as Sir Isaiah Berlin.[6] 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 Noel Mewton-Wood and Felix Aprahamian, for whom he wrote a tribute following Aprahamian's death in January 2005.[7] He was also closely associated with Gerard Hoffnung and organized many of Hoffnung's concerts until the latter's death in 1959; he performed a comic duet from The Barber of Darmstadt with Owen Brannigan at the 1961 Hoffnung Festival. As a critic, Amis often came across contemporaries including Neville Cardus (Manchester Guardian), Frank Howes (The Times), Scott Goddard (News Chronicle) and Richard Capell (Telegraph).[8]

Amis wrote a number of books, on his own Amiscellany imprint,[9] with titles including My Music in London: 1945-2000. Amis spent much of his time giving talks and one-man shows, after dinner speeches and concert works.[10] Amis was a patron of the Music Libraries Trust[11] and the Tait Memorial Trust,[12] and a vice-president of the Putney Music society.[13]

Personal life

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In June 1948, Amis married the violinist Olive Zorian,[14] founder of the Zorian String Quartet. The marriage was dissolved in 1955 and Zorian died in 1965.[citation needed]

In the later years of his life, Amis took up with his partner, Isla Baring OAM, Chairman of the Tait Memorial Trust of which he was a Patron.[15] He once said that she gave him his "Indian summer".[16]

Death and legacy

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John Amis died on 1 August 2013.[17] He was survived by his partner for his last six years, Isla Baring. His funeral was held on 20 August 2013 at the Musicians' Church, St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in London.[18]

In his memory, the Tait Memorial Trust inaugurated the John Amis Award, a scholarship to support students at the Dartington International Summer School.[19]

References

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John Amis

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John Amis is a British music critic, broadcaster, and music administrator known for his long-running role as a panellist on the BBC Radio 4 quiz show My Music, his organisational work with summer music courses at Dartington and Bryanston, and his extensive interviews with prominent classical musicians. His engaging style, deep knowledge of 20th-century classical music, and fund of anecdotes made him a familiar and beloved figure in British musical life for decades. Born John Preston Amis on 17 June 1922 in Dulwich, London, he was the son of a merchant banker and a model, and a first cousin of novelist Kingsley Amis. After attending Dulwich College, he briefly worked in banking and at a specialist record shop before taking on administrative roles with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and assisting Myra Hess with wartime National Gallery concerts. In the post-war years he helped organise the premiere of Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time and became closely involved with William Glock’s summer school, which he administered from 1948 until 1981. Amis served as London music critic for The Scotsman, contributed to BBC programmes including Music Magazine and Talking about Music, and built an archive of around 500 interviews with figures such as Benjamin Britten and Aaron Copland. He appeared regularly on My Music from 1973 to 1994, replacing David Franklin and becoming one of the programme’s best-known voices. In later years he published memoirs including Amiscellany: My Life, My Music (1985) and My Music in London 1945–2000 (2006), wrote columns for The Tablet, and performed a one-man show of musical anecdotes. He died on 1 August 2013 at the age of 91.

Early life and education

Family background and childhood

John Preston Amis was born on 17 June 1922 in Dulwich, London, into a banking family with traditions of amateur music-making. His father, James Amis, who worked for merchant bankers, actively shared music with him by playing piano duets and taking him to operas before he reached the age of 10. This early home environment fostered his lifelong passion for classical music through family participation in amateur performances. Amis was a cousin of the novelist Kingsley Amis. During his childhood and school years, he formed a lifelong friendship with the composer Donald Swann. Through family and local connections in Dulwich, he gained early exposure to distinguished musicians. He lost the hearing in his left ear during childhood.

Education and early musical exposure

John Amis attended Dulwich College Preparatory School, where he developed mastoiditis and permanently lost the hearing in his left ear. After leaving school, he briefly attempted a career in banking that lasted only six weeks. He subsequently worked at the specialist EMG record shop in London, interacting with distinguished customers. This role provided valuable early musical exposure through daily engagement with recordings and notable figures in the arts, building networking connections that supported his emerging administrative usefulness in music. His employment at the shop ended with the outbreak of the Second World War due to a shortage of shellac, the material then used to manufacture gramophone records.

Music administration career

Early administrative roles

After making himself useful at the London Philharmonic Orchestra office, John Amis was put on the payroll and organized the LPO Arts Club, a supporters' group for which he arranged recitals and readings; he persuaded Edith Sitwell to recite her poetry and the pianist Louis Kentner to perform for a fee of two guineas. He also worked for Dame Myra Hess at the National Gallery lunchtime concerts and served in an administrative capacity for Sir Thomas Beecham. While singing in the choir at Morley College under Michael Tippett, Amis used the connection to persuade the London Philharmonic Orchestra to give the premiere of Tippett’s oratorio A Child of Our Time. He excelled at networking long before it became commonplace, and his early roles brought him into contact with leading figures; his friendship with William Glock began in this period and later contributed to his music criticism work. Among memorable experiences, Amis was present when Benjamin Britten completed his opera Peter Grimes, after which Britten returned to the lunch table they shared and announced, “That’s it, I’ve finished.” At another concert he organized with Adrian Boult, the event ran short of percussion, prompting Boult to order, “Mr Amis, play the triangle,” a task Amis duly performed.

Dartington International Summer School

John Amis served as administrative director of the Bryanston Summer School of Music, which later became the Dartington International Summer School, from 1948 to 1981. He initially assisted William Glock in organising and running the courses at Bryanston School in Dorset starting in 1948. The summer school relocated to Dartington Hall in Devon in 1953, where Amis continued in his administrative capacity, working closely with Glock to develop its distinctive musical character. During his 33-year tenure, Amis was instrumental in attracting prominent composers and musicians to serve as tutors and participants, including Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, and Michael Tippett. His effectiveness in securing such major figures helped establish the summer school's reputation as a vital institution in British musical life, reflecting his exceptional networking abilities within the musical community.

Broadcasting career

BBC radio and television contributions

John Amis contributed extensively to BBC radio and television through presenting magazine programmes and conducting interviews with prominent musicians. He presented the programme Music Now on BBC Radio 3, and for one season on BBC2 television, employing a format of unscripted interviews that marked a fresh approach to music broadcasting. He also conducted unscripted interviews for the BBC World Service with distinguished musicians, further pioneering this informal style. Amis presented his own show on BBC Radio 3 entitled Talking about Music, in which he conducted more than 500 interviews with major figures of 20th-century music, including Aaron Copland and Benjamin Britten. By the time BBC Radio 3 marked his 90th birthday with a special broadcast in 2012, he had amassed an archive of 500 interviews that the programme drew upon for content. On 3 July 2012, Radio 3 aired a two-and-a-half-hour tribute titled An Evening with John Amis, hosted by Louise Fryer, which featured numerous clips from his earlier interviews and highlighted his extensive knowledge and personal connections in the music world. In addition to these roles, Amis made long-running appearances as a panellist on the BBC programme My Music.

My Music panelist

John Amis joined the BBC Radio 4 panel quiz My Music in 1974, replacing David Franklin who had departed due to ill health. He remained a regular panellist until the programme ended in 1994. During his tenure, the show featured competing teams of Ian Wallace and Denis Norden against Amis and Frank Muir, with Steve Race serving as chairman. Amis brought a sound tenor voice to the programme's concluding song rounds. Early in his time on the show, Frank Muir advised him that he was no good at repartee and should instead concentrate on stories, advice Amis followed for the rest of the programme's run. As a result, he became known for sharing anecdotes rather than competing through quick wit. He also participated in the BBC2 television version of My Music, appearing in 130 episodes between 1977 and 1986.

Music criticism and journalism

The Scotsman and other publications

John Amis began his career in music criticism as the London music critic for The Scotsman, succeeding William Glock in 1945 (having previously deputised for him), a role he held for more than 15 years. One of his most distinctive contributions during this period was his review of the 1955 premiere of Michael Tippett's opera A Midsummer Marriage, which he hailed as a masterpiece—he was the only critic to do so at a time when it received generally negative responses. Amis was a frequent contributor to The Guardian, where he wrote obituaries and articles on classical music subjects. He also wrote a regular music column in The Tablet for many years. In addition, he published articles in Gramophone magazine, including a notable 1989 interview with Walter Legge discussing Maria Callas.

Writing and memoirs

Published books

John Amis authored two notable memoirs that drew upon his long career in music criticism, broadcasting, and administration. His first book, Amiscellany: My Life, My Music, was published by Faber & Faber in 1985. The work offered personal reflections on his experiences and encounters in the music world. He later self-published My Music in London 1945-2000 through Amiscellany Books in 2006. This volume compiled his observations on the London music scene across more than five decades. He also wrote a regular column for The Tablet for many years. In his later years, Amis maintained a blog at johnamismusic.blogspot.co.uk, where he continued sharing commentary on music and related subjects.

Personal life and death

Marriage and relationships

John Amis married the violinist Olive Zorian, founder of the Zorian String Quartet, in 1948; the marriage ended in divorce in 1955. In his final years, he was partnered with Isla Baring, who shared his last six years. Amis cultivated enduring friendships with leading figures in British musical life, including composers Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten, tenor Peter Pears, BBC music controller William Glock, conductor Neville Marriner, composer Donald Swann, and critic Felix Aprahamian.

Later years and death

In his later years, John Amis continued his music journalism by writing obituaries for The Guardian and, in more recent years, maintaining a blog. BBC Radio 3 honoured his 90th birthday in 2012 with the programme An Evening with John Amis, broadcast on 3 July, in which he joined presenter Louise Fryer to explore his extensive archive of more than 500 interviews with major musical figures of the post-war era. John Amis died on 1 August 2013 in London, at the age of 91.
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