Conductor James is very much in tune with world of musical theatre
A FORMER staff conductor for English National Opera and head of music for Opera North, James Holmes, is now a freelance conductor, accompanist and arranger.
Alongside an operatic repertoire that encompasses everything from Mozart to contemporary world premieres, he has maintained a lifelong interest in musical theatre and played a significant part in its adoption by UK opera houses.
Notable successes include Street Scene, Pacific Overtures (also a Grammy-nominated recording) for English National Opera; Into The Woods (Royal Opera House); Seven Deadly Sins, One Touch of Venus, Arms and The Cow, Paradise Moscow, Carousel, Sweeney Todd and Into The Woods (Opera North); and Sweeney Todd and Kiss Me, Kate (Welsh National Opera).
As associate music director, he was in charge of well over 100 performances of the celebrated Royal National Theatre production of Carousel. He conducted The King and I at the Chatelet in Paris and Street Scene for its Berlin premiere, as well as a critically acclaimed DVD. Concert work includes appearances with the Halle, London Symphony, London Sinfonietta and the Montreal Symphony, with a wide range of artists, from Bryn Terfel and Willard White to Patti Smith and Grizzly Bear.
He has served as musical assistant to Simon Rattle at the Metropolitan Opera New York, at the Aix and Salzburg Festivals, and at Glyndebourne – notably the legendary production of Porgy and Bess. The music of Kurt Weill is a particular longtime interest and enthusiasm - he serves on the Board of Trustees of the Kurt Weill Foundation, New York, and has conducted as wide a range of Weill’s music as anyone in the world. This year he became only the seventh-ever recipient of the Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement award for his services to the composer.
Recent work includes acclaimed new productions of Weill’s Street Scene (Opera North) and Silverlake (English Touring Opera).
A successful 2019 debut at the Vienna Volksoper with Bernstein’s Wonderful Town has led to invitations to return for 2021/2.
James has been appearing with Viva for more than a decade.