Ian Parrott (born 5 March 1916), who retired from the Gregynog Chair of Music at Aberystwyth in 1983, is a prolific Anglo-Welsh composer and writer on music. His distinctions include the first prize of the Royal Philharmonic Society for his symphonic poem Luxor, and commissions by the BBC and Yale University, and for many leading British musicians. In 1958 his Cor Anglais concerto was first performed at Cheltenham Festival, and in 1963 his cello concerto was given by William Pleeth and the Halle Orchestra - both concertos were conducted by Sir John Barbirolli.
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Ian Parrott was born in Streatham, London, in 1916. He first studied at the Royal College of Music. He was a music scholar at New College, Oxford from 1934 to 1937, where he studied the viola with André Mangeot, and was awarded his doctorate in 1940. War service with the Royal Corps of Signals took him to Egypt.
After the war, Parrott became a lecturer at Birmingham University from 1946 to 1950. After about 1951, Parrott's compositions became deeply influenced by his interest in the Welsh landscape and culture, when he was appointed Gregynog Chair of Music at Aberystwyth. He worked there until 1983.
In 1955 Parrott became a founder member of the Guild for the Promotion of Welsh Music. That year he revived the Gregynog Festival, originally held from 1933-1938 by the art patrons Gwendoline and Margaret Davies. He ended it in 1961, but the festival, revived again in 1988, has continued.
Amongst Parrott's writings is The Spiritual Pilgrims, a book on the Davies sisters. He also wrote a book on Elgar for the Master Musicians Series. A leading authority on Elgar, Parrott was elected a Vice-President of the Elgar Society in 1973. He is also a vice-president of the Peter Warlock Society.
Parrott wrote a study of the piano music of Cyril Scott. In 1994 he published The Crying Curlew for Warlock's centenary. His autobiography Parrottcisms appeared in 2003.
Parrott has composed five symphonies, four operas and many chamber works.