James Poke (born 1963 in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a musician, primarily known as artistic director and co-founder of the ensemble

Icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

. Poke studied music at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

and composition with Erich Urbanner at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. With

John Godfrey John Ferguson Godfrey (December 19, 1942 – December 18, 2023) was a Canadian educator, journalist and politician who served as a member of Parliament from 1993 to 2008. Background Godfrey was born in Toronto, Ontario on December 19, 1942. ...

he founded Icebreaker in 1989. As well as running the group, he also plays

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

pan-pipes A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

, keyboards and WX11 wind synthesiser in the ensemble. He has arranged many pieces for Icebreaker and produced or co-produced several of Icebreaker's albums. He also has a strong interest in politics and is currently co-chair of th
Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign Action Group
chairs the West Surrey branch of the

Palestinian Solidarity Campaign The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is an activist organisation in England and Wales. It was founded in the UK in 1982 and incorporated in 2004 as Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ltd. In 2023, ''The Guardian'' described it as "Europe’s ...

and has twice stood for election as a councillor for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

Mole Valley Mole Valley is a local government district in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Dorking, and the district's other town is Leatherhead. The largest villages are Ashtead, Fetcham and Great Bookham, in the northern third of the district. ...

Discography

Playing flutes, pan-pipes, wind synthesiser and keyboards: * Icebreaker, Official Bootleg (ICC, 1991, live album, cassette only) *

Graham Fitkin Graham Fitkin (born 19 April 1963) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres. Described by ''The Independent'' in 1998 as "one of the most important of our younger com ...

, Hook, Mesh, Stub, Cud (Argo, 1993) (with Icebreaker) * Short Cuts – Breaking the sound Barrier – An Argo Sampler (Argo, 1994) (with Icebreaker) * Icebreaker, Terminal Velocity (Argo, 1994) * Icebreaker, Trance (Argo, 1996) * Century XXI UK A–M (New Tone, 1996) (with Icebreaker) *

Bang on a Can Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted contemporary classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Called "the c ...

, Industry (Sony Classical, 1995) * Icebreaker, Rogue's Gallery (New Tone, 1997) * Icebreaker,

Diderik Wagenaar Diderik Wagenaar (born 10 May 1946 in Utrecht) is a Dutch composer and musical theorist. Life and work Wagenaar has lived and worked all his adult life in The Hague. Born to a musical family that includes Johan Wagenaar, he began playing piano at ...

(Composers' Voice / Donemus, 2001) (also co-producer) * Icebreaker, Extraction (between the lines, 2001) (also producer) * Bang on a Can,

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

: Gigantic Dancing Human Machine (Cantaloupe, 2003) * Icebreaker, Trance (Cantaloupe Music, 2004) (also producer) * Icebreaker, Cranial Pavement (Cantaloupe Music, 2005) (also co-producer) * Icebreaker, Terminal Velocity (Cantaloupe Music, 2005) (also producer) * Icebreaker, Music with Changing Parts (Orange Mountain Music, 2007) (also producer)

References

External links

Icebreaker websiteIcebreaker Apollo websiteIcebreaker MySpace siteWest Surrey Palestine Solidarity CampaignNicaragua Solidarity Campaign
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poke, James 1963 births Living people Alumni of the University of York English flautists Musicians from Surrey Entertainers from Dorking