About

There’s a beguiling smile in his voice

The stage

James hails from Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and is a graduate of Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2025, he will be joining Hurn Court Opera for Rossini’s La Cenerentola as ‘Prince Ramiro’ and Stanley Arts for a revival of Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s Dream Lovers as ‘Manuel.’

In 2024, James performed as ‘Enrico’ in Gothic Opera’s production of Donizetti’s Maria de Rudenz, ‘The Duke’ in the premiere of Edward Lambert’s contemporary opera, The Duchess of Padua on a UK tour; ‘Strephon’ in a production of Iolanthe at The Athenaeum, London; and as ‘Fintan O’Riordan’ in the premiere of Luke Byrne and Shirley Keane’s The Ballybruff Trilogy in Ireland.

Roles in 2022/2023 included ‘Nemorino’ Donizetti L’elisir d’amore, three productions as ‘Prince Ramiro’ Rossini La Cenerentola, ‘Schoolmaster’ Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen, ‘Rodolfo’ Puccini La bohème, ‘Lensky’ Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin, ‘Aeneas’ Purcell Dido & Aeneas.

James regularly performs as an oratorio soloist and as an Evangelist, with recent performances including Britten St Nicolas, Bruckner Te Deum, Rossini Messe Solenelle, Handel Joshua as ‘Joshua’, the UK premiere of Lidarti Ester, Bach St John Passion and B Minor Mass, and Handel Messiah, the latter of which he will perform in Southwell, Derby and Herefordshire, alongside a Haydn Creation and Puccini Messa di gloria in London for December 2024.

If you would like to use the biography/CV/headshot for publicity purposes, please contact James for the most up-to-date version.