John Amis
Author
1922 – 2013
Who was John Amis?
John Preston Amis 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.
Born in Dulwich, London, in 1922, he was a cousin of the novelist Kingsley Amis. He was educated at Dulwich College, 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, before becoming a music critic, initially with The Scotsman in 1946. He was for several years manager for Sir Thomas Beecham.
In 1948, William Glock invited him 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.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Jun 17, 1922
Dulwich - Also known as
- John Preston Amis
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Profession
- Education
- Dulwich College
- Died
- Aug 1, 2013
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"John Amis." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/john_amis>.
Discuss this John Amis biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In