Nigel Potts, Concert Organist
Next Concert: April 30, 2023
(806) 376-6316
  • Register



Listen to Nigel performing Toccata from the Plymouth Suite by Percy Whitlock during his centenary celebrations in 2003, from a live recital at The Riverside Church in New York City:

{s5_mp3}Toccata by Percy Whitlock.mp3{/s5_mp3}

Nigel Potts has become renowned worldwide as "a consummate musician who knows how to communicate the essence of [the] music" (The American Organist), whose "playing is assured and stylish" (Organists' Review, UK), and for his "broad command of tonal color" (The New Mexican). He has built a reputation for his expressive, colorful and tasteful performances, always communicating and placing the music at the forefront with "...warm, sympathetic playing" (Choir & Organ, UK).

Nigel has performed recitals across four continents, including distinguished venues in London, Cambridge (UK), Paris, Toronto, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney, as well as in Austria, Iceland, Taiwan, New Zealand and the Bahamas.

As an exponent of orchestral transcriptions, Nigel has recorded an all-transcription program on the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia for WRTI-FM and has performed his orchestral reductions of Rachmaninov's Piano Concertos No.1 & No.2 with pianist Jeremy Filsell. In the fall of 2014, Nigel will record his transcriptions of Wagner's Prelude to Act I from Tristan und Isolde, Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder & Elgar's Sea Pictures with mezzo-soprano Sarah Rose Taylor & harpist Grace Cloutier due for release in 2015 by MSR Classics. Last spring they performed selections from Elgar's Sea Pictures in Carnegie Hall. Many of Nigel's transcriptions are published by Morning-Star Music.

A respected champion of 19th & 20th century British organ music, Nigel Potts has performed Percy Whitlock and Edward Elgar concerts celebrating the composers' Centenary and 150th Anniversaries respectively, and was invited to perform the Elgar Organ Sonata at the first ever North American Conference of the Elgar Society. His CD British Fantasies & Fanfares, (which includes the first ever recording of York Bowen's complete solo organ works), has been critiqued as "...one of the best, most subtle readings of 'Nimrod' from Elgar's Enigma Variations I've ever heard" (The New Mexican), "superbly played...a fine interpretation...a strongly recommended CD" (International Record Review, UK), and "...whose interpretive talent is obvious...an excellent recording" (American Record Guide). Nigel recitals and recordings have been broadcast on radio/web stations in various countries including Pipedreams in the USA, and can be heard on-line and on You-Tube.

An advocate of new music, Nigel Potts is the dedicatee of several organ compositions by the British composer Paul Spicer, including Saraband for any 3rd October (premièred at Westminster Abbey) and March for the Retreat of the Governor of Hong Kong (premièred at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre). He has also commissioned choral music for his choirs from prominent American and British composers such as Robert Lehman, Bruce Neswick, Paul Spicer and Richard Webster.

Nigel Potts studied organ with Thomas Murray at Yale University where he graduated with a Master of Music Degree. He also holds diplomas from the Conservatorium of Music in Wellington and Trinity College of Music, London. Whilst living in London he studied Church Music at the Royal Academy of Music, and studied organ with Jeremy Filsell and John Scott. A recipient of the Gillian Weir Waitangi Foundation Scholarship, Nigel has held Cathedral Organ Scholarships in New Zealand and England.

Presently Nigel Potts is Organist & Choirmaster of Christ & Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in New York City, where he oversaw the installation of the new Schoenstein organ in 2008. He is also a member of the music staff at the Saint Thomas Choir School and is on the Program Committee of the New York City Chapter of the AGO. As a Rotarian, he has given benefit concerts to raise funds for children from developing countries to have critical heart surgeries in New York.

 

S5 Box

Login

Register