Adam Pounds

[2] Educated at William Morris High School, he was accepted to the London College of Music where he studied oboe, guitar, composition and conducting, the latter under Christopher Fry.

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.

He also worked for Crescendo, a jazz magazine, as an administrative assistant, and taught at Long Road Sixth Form College.

[8] Between 2015 and 2021, then again from 2024, Pounds also served as the chairman of the Lennox Berkeley Society,[9] which encourages the performance, study, recording and broadcast of his former tutor's work.

It explores the final days of the life of the cleric Hugh Latimer, his death at the stake and his martyrdom, using modal themes and liturgical ideas combined with strong rhythmic statements.

[16] 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.

[17] Written in response to the COVID-19 lockdowns imposed in 2020 and 2021, Pounds states that the piece captures the ‘sadness, humour, determination and defiance’ which everyone faced at this time – not least musicians.

[20] 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.

Another programmatic work, Northern Picture, is a collage of dance, mysticism and combat, influenced by the Castlerigg stone circle.

[1] Pounds describes that, although he had always been involved with the Church of England, he went through a "political and hot-headed" period; this piece was written as he was returning to religion.