"Wonderful performance...Nigel is really a terrific performer...There was virtually universal acclaim from the audience." (Jon J. Danzak, Pittsburgh Organ Artists Series, presenter)
"Nigel Potts is a consummate musician who knows how to communicate the essence of [British] music....Brilliantly performed...musical magnificence." (The American Organist)
"...sense of expression which never cloys”
(The Sydney Organ Journal, Australia)
"[Potts] handles the organ with an admirable blend of authority and aplomb” (The New Mexican)
CD REVIEWS
“Howells’s first Rhapsody is given a fine interpretation…as is the performance of Percy Whitlock’s first Fantasie-Choral…perfectly judged and balanced. (Bowen’s) Fantasia…superbly played here.
A strongly recommended CD” (CD: British Fantasies & Fanfares) International Record Review, UK, 2009
“…this is one to go out and buy.” (CD: British Fantasies & Fanfares) Friends of Cathedral Music, UK, 2009
“…warm, sympathetic playing from Potts. His account of Whitlock’s first Fantasie-Choral is especially fine…”
Rated **** (CD: British Fantasies & Fanfares)
Choir & Organ, UK, 2009
“Nigel uses its (the large Schoenstein at St. Paul’s Parish in Washington) extensive resources with imagination and taste. He has an intuitive grasp of the grand British style, and one can sense his love for this music in his secure technique and in his idiomatic phrasing and expression.” (CD: British Fantasies & Fanfares) The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians, USA, 2009
“…one of the best, most subtle readings of ‘Nimrod’ from Elgar’s Enigma Variations I’ve ever heard. He handles the Schoenstein organ with an admirable blend of authority and aplomb, buttressed by a broad command of tonal color…” (CD: British Fantasies & Fanfares) The New Mexican, USA, 2009
“Nigel Potts exploits its (the Schoenstein organ) potential and masters its tricks with aplomb. The playing is first-rate throughout, with wonderfully assured technique, and a sense of expression which never cloys – neither in the playing itself, registrations, nor the use of the organ’s astoundingly effective Swell boxes. Sheer pleasure for every possible reason, and thoroughly recommended.” (CD: British Fantasies & Fanfares) The Sydney Organ Journal, Australia, 2009
Nigel Potts
concert organist
Nigel Potts’ list of performances includes such distinguished venues as Westminster Abbey, London, (London debut aged 21); St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; Notre-Dame de Paris; The Hallgrimskirkja, Reykjavík, Iceland; Klagenfurt Cathedral, Austria; The Riverside Church, New York City; Woolsey Hall, Yale University; Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City; Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; Washington National Cathedral; St. Bartholomew's Church, New York City; the Town Halls of Wellington & Dunedin, New Zealand; The Hong Kong Cultural Centre and various venues in Australia and Singapore.
Born in New Zealand, Nigel Potts studied with Thomas Murray at Yale University and graduated with a Master of Music Degree in 2002. He 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, played for services at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and studied organ with Jeremy Filsell and John Scott.
An exponent of orchestral transcriptions and a respected champion of 19 th & 20 th century British organ music, Nigel Potts is renowned for his “intuitive grasp of the grand British style, and one can sense his love for this music in his secure technique and in his idiomatic phrasing and expression” ( The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians). He 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 in Dallas in 2008.
His CDs and recitals have been reviewed favorably by critics around the world and have been broadcast on radio stations in Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, on Pipedreams in the USA, and in 2009, he recorded a program of transcriptions on the Wanamaker Organ for Philadelphia's WRTI-FM radio station. His most recent CD release, British Fantasies & Fanfares, (which includes the first 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), “ …(Bowen’s) Fantasia superbly played… Howells’s first Rhapsody is given a fine interpretation…” (International Record Review, UK, June 2009) and “…this is one to go out and buy” (Friends of Cathedral Music, UK, May 2009)
Nigel Potts is presently Organist & Choirmaster of Christ & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, New York City, where he oversaw the installation of the new Schoenstein organ in 2008. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer of Music at Dowling College, New York; a National Examiner for the Royal School of Church Music, America; and a board member of both the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the St. Wilfrid Club of New York City. As a Rotarian, he has given benefit concerts to raise funds for children from developing countries to have critical heart surgeries in New York.
In July 2010, he will present a workshop on British Organ Music of the 19 th & 20 th Centuries at the American Guild of Organists National Convention to be held in Washington DC.