As we prepare for John Amis’ funeral on Tuesday 20th August the idea of a legacy, a tangible way to remember John has been at the forefront of our thoughts. A life, such as his is a rare occurrence and deserves our very best efforts to remember and celebrate.
For the last six years of his incredible life John Amis was a Patron and an active supporter of the Tait Memorial Trust. The Chairman, Isla Baring OAM, wishes to create an Award in his name to be called the ‘John Amis Award’.
We have created a JustGiving page in the name of John Amis which is attached to the main TMT page. Any money donated via John’s page will go directly to fund this new award.
John Amis
Six weeks in a bank was enough for him to decide to live by and with music. Selling records and writing about them for a high-class gramophone shop, working with London Philharmonic, Symphony and Royal Philharmonic, organising concerts for Myra Hess at the National Gallery and for Michael Tippett whose secretary-dogsbody and friend he was, concert manager for Beecham, music critic for The Scotsman, organiser of the Summer School of Music with William Glock at Bryanston and Dartington for 34 years, broadcaster on radio and TV for 40, during which time he interviewed some 500 of the most famous and interesting musicians, Hindemith to Bernstein, Cage to Swann, Stravinsky to Stockhausen. He has narrated parts in Façade, Peter and the Wolf, Enoch Arden and Babar the Elephant.
John Amis speaking at the Malcolm Arnold Festival 2011
For his 70th birthday made a CD with friends Leslie Howard, Steve Race, Malcolm Arnold, Donald Swann, Jeffrey Tate and Ian Wallace. His books include an autobiography,Amiscellany, an anthology Words about Music and My Life in Music 1945 – 2000, A Photographer at the Aldeburgh Festival (Nigel Luckhurst) and Musicians on Camera(Lelia Goehr).
John was a very active blogger. His site John Amis online has a selection of his reviews going back to 2001. http://johnamismusic.blogspot.co.uk
The Archive of over 500 priceless interviews with the leaders of Western music and the Arts is being collected. Watch this space.
Related articles
- John Amis – Critic, Broadcaster and Patron of the TMT (taitmemorialtrust.wordpress.com)
- A Farewell to John Amis (taitmemorialtrust.wordpress.com)
- John Amis obituary (theguardian.com)
- John Amis (en.wikipedia.org)
- John Preston Amis ( 17 June 1922 – 1 August 2013 ) (taitmemorialtrust.wordpress.com)
- John Amis (telegraph.co.uk)
- John Amis: Music critic and broadcaster who graced radio’s ‘My Music’ for two decades (independent.co.uk)