As a soloist and chamber musician, James performs regularly
throughout the UK and Europe. His recital work includes
appearances at major concert series in France, Belgium, Germany,
Italy, Holland, the Czech Republic, Bermuda, Hong Kong and
Malaysia, and in the UK at the Wigmore Hall and the Edinburgh and
Aldeburgh festivals.
Having studied at the Moscow Conservatoire, where he reached the
semi finals of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, he
returns to perform in the former Soviet Union every year.
Highlights have included performances at the Sakharov
Festival in Nizhny Novgorod and the Omsk Festival.
James' orchestral performances include concertos
with the Moscow, Khazakh and Belorussian symphony
orchestras, the Arad and Oradea philharmonic orchestras in Romania,
and the English and Scottish chamber orchestras at venues including
the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Opera House, Birmingham Symphony Hall,
the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire and Astana Opera
House. He has performed both Brahms concertos in Russia
and Romania.
A member of the Barbican Piano Trio since 1992, James has
performed regularly at the Wigmore Hall, in major UK festivals
and concert series, and throughout Europe and the USA. Particular
highlights include a performance at Carnegie Recital Hall and many
cycles of Beethoven's Complete Piano Trios including one in the
Master Concert Series at Wigmore Hall. The Trio’s repertoire
consists of over seventy works and their discography includes trios
by Lalo, Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Rachmaninov and Schnittke.
He has also worked with the Vanburgh Quartet, BBC Singers,
Lydia Mordkovitch and the mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly, and has
made two recordings for Chandos.
James is a dedicated teacher who holds posts at the Royal Welsh
College of Music & Drama, Royal Holloway and
the University of London. He is Artist In Residence at
the University of Hull and an Honorary Professor at the Rachmaninov
Institute, Tambov, Russia, where he makes frequent visits to
perform concertos, give recitals and masterclasses and lead chamber
music courses.
James has served on the juries of several international
Piano competitions, most recently in Romania, Latvia, Russia and
Slovenia. He is in considerable demand for masterclasses and as an
adjudicator, and is a member of the ABRSM examining panel,
which has taken him all over Europe and the Far East.