James Gilchrist

James’ recent concert appearances include: Damon in Acis & Galatea at the Proms (Academy of Ancient Music/Paul Goodwin), Bach cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra in their celebrated Bach Pilgrimage (Sir John Eliot Gardiner/Europe-America), Monteverdi Vespers and Messiah (The Sixteen/Japan), Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance and Ralph in HMS Pinafore (Scottish Chamber Orchestra), the title role in Judas Maccabeus (The King’s Consort), Elgar Dream of Gerontius, Septimus in Theodora (Scottish Chamber Orchestra), Israel in Egypt (Norddeutscher Rundfunk and Scottish Chamber Orchestra), B Minor Mass (Semyon Bychkov/Turin and Santa Caecilia in Rome), Mozart Requiem (Seattle Symphony Orchestra), L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato and a televised performance of Berlioz L’enfance du Christ at the BBC Proms (Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra)., Alexander’s Feast in Salzburg, Judas Maccabeus with the Danish Radio Orchestra, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Ton Koopman and the Tönhalle Orchestra in Zurich, L’enfance du Christ with the Northern Sinfonia, and the Evangelist in the Bach/Mendelssohn St Matthew Passion with the OAE.

James is a keen exponent of contemporary music and has performed in the world premieres of Knut Nystedt’s Apocalypsis Joannis (Oslo Philharmonic), John Tavener’s Total Eclipse (Academy of Ancient Music), which was also recorded, and Helen Ottaway’s new commission for the Salisbury Festival, The Echoing Green.

As a recitalist, he has appeared with Malcom Martineau performing a new commission by Francis Grier, with Stephen Varcoe and Della Jones in St John’s, Smith Square performing Percy Grainger, and with John Constable performing Britten Canticles, Quilter To Julia and Tippett The Heart’s Assurance for the BBC. In his partnership with the pianist Anna Tilbrook, he has performed Schumann Liederkreis (op 24), Finzi Till Earth Outwears and Poulenc Metamorphoses for BBC Radio 3. James is also partnered in recital by the harpist Alison Nicholls and has appeared at the Bury St Edmunds Festival in a programme featuring a new commission by Alec Roth based on Vikram Seth’s ‘All You Who Sleep Tonight’.

Operatic performances include: Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw (New Chamber Opera), Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutti, Scaramuccio in Strauss’ Ariadne Auf Naxos (Richard Hickox), Gomatz in Mozart’s Zaide (Istanbul), Vaughan Williams’ Sir John in Love (Barbican/Radio 3), Hyllus in Handel’s Hercules (Berlin), Acis & Galatea at the Berlin Staatsoper, and Evandre in Gluck’s Alceste at La Monnaie in Brussels.

Amongst his many recordings are Bach St Matthew Passion (Gabrieli Consort/Paul McCreesh), Bach St John Passion (New College Choir/Edward Higginbottom), Rachmaninov Vespers (EMI/Kings College, Cambridge), Schütz Sacred Music (The Sixteen/Collins Classics), Rameau Cantatas and St Mark Passion (ASV), Grainger Songs (Chandos), Kuhnau Sacred Music (The King’s Consort/Hyperion), Bach Missa Brevis (Collegium Instrumentale Brugense), and Bach Cantatas variously with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan. More recently James has recorded the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring and Vaughan Williams’ A Poisoned Kiss. Most importantly he was a member of Voces Sacrae, which recorded Finnissy’s Seven Sacred Motets on Metier 92023