James is an eclectic musician excelling in orchestral playing and solo trumpet repertoire. He is also a busy chamber musician as well as historically informed performances on the baroque trumpet.
As an orchestral musician, James has played with multiple UK leading orchestras including trials with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra and London Mozart Players. In 2020, James became a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and previous to that, he was also the principal trumpet of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. From 2017, he has been in demand with leading brass bands across the country performing at all of the major competitions, including the British Open and the National Brass Band Championships. James is also a fellow for the Philharmonia MMSF Instrumental Fellowship Programme.
James studied at the Royal Academy of Music where he was an Elton John Scholar achieving a distinction for his Masters of Arts and first class honours in a Bachelor of Music degree. Some performance highlights were regularly being featured as the principal trumpet and soloist for the critically acclaimed Bach Cantata concert series, principal trumpet for the joint Academy/Juilliard Soloists Stravinsky recording with Barbara Hannigan and soloist for the world premiere of Nina Šenk’s Prospectives for trumpet, large symphonic brass and percussion.
In regard to solo playing, James has performed a variety of repertoire, including the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto and the Neruda Trumpet Concerto. In 2022, he performed the UK premiere of Jonathon Freeman-Attwood & Thomas Oehler’s Trumpet Sonata ‘after Strauss’ which is one of the most ambitious sonatas to be written for trumpet in recent years. Alongside concerts, James has also performed in competitions such as the BBC Young Brass Award, where he was a finalist in 2017 and 2018, the Yamaha Foundation of Europe Scholarship, which he won and in June 2023 the prestigious RAM Bicentenary Prize at Wigmore Hall where he was awarded 2nd prize.
Chamber music is a major part of James’ playing performing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia brass quintets as well as the Symphonic Brass of London. His group, London Central Brass, is becoming an exciting new prospect, winning the Musicians Company prize before success in the Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition. The group look forward to performing concerts and masterclasses at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Wigmore Hall and the Lucerne Festival.
