Dear Guests,
I hope you are well. Thank you for your interest.
Please use contact page to request a professional CV or marketing material in either French or English.
General bio:
I was born 1965 in N.Y. USA and raised in N.Y.
Before I could walk and talk, I heard music in my head - not from imagination or from memory - so I think it’s music from beyond, from the infinite creative force of the universe. I believe it a divine source.
My life’s work is to do my best to cultivate skills and to weave it with some imagination and put down onto the page to share with others. I perceive myself as being a vessel in this way, a servant.
I feel inspired and I love people, creation and the arts. In fact, the beauty of this earth, this universe never ceases to inspire me.
I hope the music I’ve managed to get down onto the page can be of use to you, and my blogs of assistance.
Please let me know if I can compose custom works for you or your students, ensemble, organization….
The music provided on this website is the music which contains oboe and which is published. Most of my music remains unpublished such as works for full orchestra, and pipe organ. I will publish more mature works for those later in life if I am fortunate to life a full life.
In Asheville:
Founded Oboe Brilliance in 2010
composing, coaching and selling oboe solo, oboe ensemble and oboe in ensemble works, world wide. This music is used in curriculum in Parisian Conservatories and fine music schools, and enjoyed by professionals around the globe.
1992 - 2010 owned and operated K.J.Potter’s Music studio where I taught oboe, flute, piano, composition, music appreciation and period performance practice, and eurhythmic movement, to children, adults and senior citizens. There I composed for my students and ensembles. (Oboe Brilliance is an outgrowth of this studio) see below for extended back story
At times I composed for churches and chamber music for private individuals.
1992 - 1994: directed (and often performed in)
2 Performing Arts Series in Downtown :
The Performing Art Series (mixed forms)
Early Music to the Avant-Garde
(was granted a Downtown Asheville HERO medal for cultural enrichment, bringing together a mix of ages and performing styles into one venue for the public)
In San Francisco: 1985 - 1990
i performed as an improvising performance artist with MOMENTUM - employing movement and vocal expression with others
composed for the EGG DANCES
Modeled for various independent artists
and had several part time jobs
Higher Education: (on scholarship)
Graduate from S.F. Conservatory of Music
majored in oboe performance
with Marc Lifschey, then switched majors to
and composition with Eli Armer
(a student of Darius Milhaud)
Attended Ithaca College N.Y. and London
double majored in oboe performance and composition:
NY: oboe studies with Peter Hedrick
composition with Karel Husa
London: oboe with Michael Winfield
Childhood education was FULL of arts education.
Dance: ballet 1968 - 1977, followed by jazz, modern and theater.
Voice: chorus age 3 - up, private intermittent and theater
piano: first lesson at age 6, (by father) then private formal age 13 - up Mrs. Kaufman to Mack McCray
OBOE!!! formal private lessons from 1974 - up
participated in concert bands, regional bands/orchestras via NYSSMA,
oboe teachers:
(saxophonist) James Cassara
OBOISTS:
Peter Hertling
LOIS WANN - scholarship
intermittently 1980 - 1985
flute: marching band for one season
Strong influences and fun facts
My family and I trained puppies for guiding eyes, which required strict adherence to a beautiful protocol of non abusive, cooperative training.
This protocol informs all my work with music students!
My father was an avid naturalist and taught me white water canoeing and took me hiking and camping. Our time spent on the water and off the grid - influences my relationship with time, music and life.
My paternal grandmother taught me how to float and swim. Her philosophy about faith and purpose has made all the difference in living a life of trust, surrender, and focus with artistic purpose.
Thank you for your interest, Kathryn Potter.
P.S. (All financial contributions help support my work as a composer. All musical commissions support the work of building the pedagogy and repertoire of Oboe Brilliance. All commissions and purchases of paintings support the Oboe Brilliance SCHOLARSHIP FUND.)
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K.J.P.
at 55, in Paris, France March 10, 2020, a couple mornings after the public concert celebrating women in music and masterclass at the Nadia and Lili Boulanger conservatory where much of K.J.P.’s music is used as curriculum.