James Gilchrist
A master of English music, tenor James Gilchrist's recent and upcoming performances include Britten's Peter Grimes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, appearances in the Oxford Lieder Festival's spring festival, and Bach's St. John Passion with the Waynflete Singers and the choir of New College, Oxford. He will also give recitals with pianist Anna Tilbrook and Nathan Williamson. The performances in April 2022 mark his debut with Music of the Baroque.
James Gilchrist has performed in major concert halls throughout the world with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, Bernard Labadie, Harry Christophers, Harry Bicket, Masaaki Suzuki, and the late Richard Hickox. A master of English music, he has performed Britten’s Church Parables in St. Petersburg, in London, and at the Aldeburgh Festival; Nocturne with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo; and War Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony and the National Youth Orchestra of Germany. Equally at home in Baroque repertoire, appearances include Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato with Stuttgart Bachakademie and at Teatro Real, Madrid; Solomon with Les Violons du Roy; Semele with Concerto Köln; Elijah with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España and Bach Collegium Japan; Hercules with The English Concert; Ode to St. Cecilia with Basel Chamber Orchestra; and Messiah with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and the St. John and St. Matthew Passion feature prominently in his schedule, and he is celebrated as perhaps the finest Evangelist of his generation.
James Gilchrist's discography includes recordings of Albert Herring (title role), Vaughan Williams’ A Poisoned Kiss and, more recently, Songs of Travel for Chandos; St. John Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music; the Finzi song cycle Oh Fair To See, a recording of Elizabethan lute songs entitled When Laura Smiles with Matthew Wadsworth, Leighton’s Earth Sweet Earth, Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge, Finzi songs, Britten’s Winter Words, and Schumann song cycles for Linn Records; and critically-acclaimed recordings of Schubert’s song cycles for Orchid Classics.
James Gilchrist performs Bach's Cantata No. 55 and appears as soloist in the Easter Oratorio on April 10 and 11