James Gilchrist

Tenor James Gilchrist's 2019-20 season included performances as Rev. Adams in Peter Grimes with the Bergen Philharmonic conducted by Edward Gardner at both Den Norske Opera in Oslo and Grieghallen in Bergen. He also gave recitals as part of the Sunnmøre Chamber Music Festival in Volda. Other concert performances include joining Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki for a tour of Europe, as well as for performances of the St. Matthew Passion in Tokyo; the St. John Passion with the NDR Elbphilharmonie; Bach’s Mass in B Minor at St. John’s Smith Square; Messiah with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; and Christmas Oratorio with Stephen Layton and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He sang an all-Schubert recital alongside pianist Anna Tilbrook at the Oxford Lieder Festival, performed a recital at the Jacqueline du Pré Building at Oxford University, and did a recital tour of Scotland. The performances in March 2021 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 sings the role of Evangelist in The St. Matthew Passion on March 28 and 29.