Adam Pounds

Adam Pounds (born ) is a British composer and conductor, mostly active in Cambridge.

Biography

Adam Pounds is the first living British composer recorded by the Sinfonia of London and its conductor, John Wilson. Born in Walthamstow, in London, to Edward Pounds and Annie Pounds (née Crisp)., he moved to Cambridge with his wife, Dinah Pounds, and their two children, in 2000.

Education

As a child, Pounds was a chorister at St Michael's Church, in Walthamstow.

Pounds continued his studies at Goldsmiths' College, graduating with a BMus (Hons) degree. In 2002, Pounds began studying for a MEd at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where his research focused on the decline of classical music provision in state schools. During his studies at Trinity Hall, Pounds joined the choir of Great St Mary's, the University Church. He subsequently founded the Academy of Great St. Mary's at the University Church in Cambridge, where some of his later works have received their debut. Pounds also conducts the Stapleford Choral Society.

Between 2015 and 2021, then again from 2024, Pounds also served as the chairman of the Lennox Berkeley Society, which encourages the performance, study, recording and broadcast of his former tutor's work.

Adam Pounds (left) with Dinah Pounds at her appointment as Mayor of Cambridge, May 2025Along with his wife, Dinah, Pounds has co-founded the Romsey Music Project, producing an ongoing series of free and accessible concerts in Romsey Town where Dinah Pounds has served as a City Councillor since 2021, as Deputy Mayor of Cambridge in 2024-25, and as Mayor of Cambridge from May 2025.

Compositions

Pounds' early orchestral compositions include the Sinfonietta (1979) and the Gaelic Triptych (1983). His Festival Overture (1987) was commissioned by the Waltham Forest Arts Festival. The Violin Concerto was first performed at the Stansted Festival in 1995. Chamber works include three string quartets: No. 1 (1978); the one movement Second String Quartet (2003); and the String Quartet No. 3, completed in 2022. There are also vocal works, such as the Shakespeare Sonnets for voice, flute and piano, the London Cantata,

The London Cantata, completed in 2017, returns to Pounds' city of birth, reflecting on the historical diversity of life in the capital, set to the words of Wilfred Owen, Amy Levy, George Eliot and William Wordsworth, among others. Its concert premiere took place in Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge on 28 September 2024, conducted by the composer.

Adam Pounds with conductor John Wilson recording his Symphony No. 4, in St Augustine’s Church, London, September 2025.The Symphony No. 4 was premiered in Cambridge on 10 December 2023.

Pounds' Nocturne for Choir and Orchestra was premiered on 8 December 2024.

Style and Influences

Pounds' compositional style is in the symphonic tradition, and although he has used some so-called modern methods including serialism and minimalism, he has followed a line through composers such as Shostakovich, Hindemith, Vaughan Williams and Bartók. He also gained much from his time studying with Lennox Berkeley, who advised him to 'write only the notes you need'; during this time Pounds was able to refine his form and find direction.

List of works

Orchestral Symphony No. 4 (2023) Interludes from Syn (2005) Flute Concertino (1999) Northern Picture (1993) Life Cycle (1992) Violin Concerto (1989) Festival Overture (1987) Symphony No. 1 (1985) Gaelic Triptych (1981) Sinfonietta (1979) The Martyrdom of Latimer (2009)

Chamber

Sonata for Flute and Piano (2020) Clarinet Quintet (2013) Sextet (2012) String Quartet No. 2 (2003) A Prelude to Bach (for organ) (1997) Sonata for Violin and Piano (1986) Wind Quintet (1984)

Vocal Nocturne for Choir and Orchestra (2024) The Nelson Orchestra 25th Anniversary Recording (Walton, Pounds, Vaughan Williams) (2006) Magnificat - Christmas from Cambridge (2007) Resurrection (2011) Entr'acte (2013) London Cantata (2016) Time (2018) Sonata (2020) Ravel / Berkeley / Pounds: Orchestra Works (2024)