Here's the short version:

Alby Potts, of Woodland Hills, is a versatile composer and pianist who works in many musical genres including musical theater, chamber music, film scoring, and recording. Alby's credits include his #1 charting album, "Dreaming For Real", feature film scores including "Season of Change", and "Frozen In Fear", and commercials, television, and multimedia projects. Alby's original ballets "Flying Fireworks" and A Christmas Jewel" are in the repertory of the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theater, and he has composed many works for classical concert artists. Also a music director, Alby has conducted over 80 shows on both coasts and in Chicago, where he was nominated twice for the Jeff Award for outstanding musical direction. Alby has a Bachelors degree in Music Performance from the Boston Conservatory of Music, and a Masters of Music from Northwestern University.

And now the long version!

ALBY POTTS began writing and performing music when his age was counted in single digits. The son of a Methodist minister and actress, his first instrument was the cello, but by age 11 he had switched to piano because he "couldn't play enough notes" on the cello. Soon after, audiences heard Alby's compositions for the first time--early works including his "Air for String Orchestra", "Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra" (with the 13 year old composer as soloist), and his symphonic "Overture in D minor", written at age 14. He became something of a "teenage prodigy" on the piano, winning state competitions and performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto in B flat minor at age 16.

Alby attended college at the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he studied piano with Jung-Ja Kim and composition with the noted J.S. Bach scholar, Dr. Hugo Norden. While in Boston, Alby frequently performed his own works at the Harvard Musical Association, on WERS-FM, and at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where he played at tea time twice a week, mixing his works with the compositions of the masters. After graduating Dean's list with honors he was awarded a full scholarship to Northwestern University, where he earned his Masters in one year, and then completed two years of a doctoral residency.

Following Northwestern, Alby began his professional career, balancing his interests in composing, piano performance, and conducting. During this time, Alby wrote his "Lyric Etudes" for Saxophone & Piano, which saxophonists have since performed in the U.S., Canada, and England, and have been broadcast on NPR. His "Sonata Pastorale" was recorded by the Mistral Saxophone Quartet of London. Other works premiered in this period were the ballet "Suite Wine", a Violin Concerto, the songs "Love Dreams" and "Net Of Memory", and countless piano compositions, including his "Rhapsody Romantique" for Piano and Orchestra.

As a conductor, Alby has musical directed over forty theatrical productions in the Midwest, East Coast, and Los Angeles. In Chicago, he twice received Joseph Jefferson Award nominations for "Best Musical Direction". In 1993 Alby began a long association with the North Shore Music Theater of Boston, composing music for and conducting their annual musical production of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". He has also musical directed numerous industrials, and worked extensively as a keyboardist and orchestrator.

Alby moved to Los Angeles in 1992 to pursue film work, where his credits include the feature films "Dance" and "Season of Change", television commercials, the dance video "On Your Toes", and the network theme, news theme, and promos for the "Viva" cable network.

In 1995 he recorded "Gavin's Angels", a limited-run cassette release of original music dedicated to the memory of his littlest friend, Gavin, who succumbed to cancer at 2 1/2 years of age.

In 1996 Alby composed the music for both episodes of "Madeleine's Mind", the first online interactive animated adventure, which won numerous awards in the multimedia community. Also in '96 & '97, Alby composed two ballets, "Flying Fireworks", and "A Christmas Jewel", which were premiered by the Missoula Dance Academy of Montana.

In July 2000, Alby's first album "Dreaming For Real" debuted at #1 on the NAV Top 100 Radio Airplay chart, and spent five months in the top ten. "Dreaming For Real" has been on the playlists of radio stations around the world, and can still be heard on the Music Choice digital cable channel and XM satellite radio. Also in 2000, Alby wrote and recorded the musical score to the feature film "The Flying Dutchman".

Alby also tours with Lorna Luft on her "Songs My Mother Tought Me" tour, playing synth and sometimes piano. Other recent keyboard credits includes tours with the performance group "Campanile", and many theater productions in the Los Angeles area.

In another enjoyable recent development, Alby has been performing as a classical pianist again, getting back to his roots. Recent performances include a concert with David Benoit and his Asia America Symphony Orchestra, premiering his new composition "LA eXperience", and a performance of "Sugar Plum" with the West Hollywood Orchestra.

Current projects:

Alby is scoring "Instead Of Me", a short film intended for film festival competitions, written and directed by Nicole Terry.

Resume.