James Gilchrist’s musical life began as a chorister at New College, Oxford, and continued as a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. He has since 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, Gilchrist has performed Britten’s Church Parables in St Petersburg, London, and at the Aldeburgh Festival, the Nocturne with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, and the War Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony and the National Youth Orchestra of Germany. He is equally at home in Baroque repertoire: appearances include Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato with the Stuttgart Bachakademie and at Teatro Real Madrid, Solomon with Les Violons du Roy, Semele with Concerto Köln, Elijah with Bach Collegium Japan under Masaaki Suzuki, Hercules with the English Concert, and Messiah with the Boston Handel & Haydn Society and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Bach’s Passions and oratorios feature prominently throughout his career, and he is celebrated as perhaps the finest Evangelist of his generation — as one critic observed, “he hasn’t become a one-man Evangelist industry by chance.” He has performed the St Matthew Passion at King’s College Cambridge, toured the St John Passion with Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki, and appeared in the St Matthew Passion as part of the Oregon Bach Festival, among many other performances.
On the opera stage, Gilchrist has become closely associated with the role of Rev. Horace Adams in Britten’s Peter Grimes, performing it in Deborah Warner’s production at the Opéra national de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Opera di Roma, as well as in concert performances with Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic at the Bergen and Edinburgh International Festivals.
Gilchrist and pianist Anna Tilbrook have collaborated for over 25 years, with recital appearances at the Wigmore Hall, the Oxford International Song Festival, and the Three Choirs Festival among many others. Their Wigmore Hall trilogy paired Schumann song cycles with new commissions from Sally Beamish, Julian Philips, and Jonathan Dove. Together they have recorded for Chandos Records, including discs of Schubert song cycles, Roger Quilter songs, and Songs of Travel. Gilchrist’s wider discography includes recordings of Schubert for Orchid Classics, Schumann for Linn Records, the Finzi song cycle Oh Fair To See, the title role in Albert Herring, and a three-part survey of British song on Somm Recordings in collaboration with pianist Nathan Williamson.
