JamesAtkinson
Representation
Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt
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About James
British baritone James Atkinson is a graduate of the Royal College of Music Opera Studio, where he studied with Alison Wells. He is a BBC New Generation Artist (2023-2025) in conjunction with BBC Radio 3.
Already a distinguished Mozartian, he made his professional debut singing the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni for Welsh National Opera, returning in 2024 for Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte. He covered the role of Papageno for the Glyndebourne Festival and in the 2024/25 season will add the role of Count Almaviva in le nozze di Figaro to his repertoire with the Mozartists and Ian Page in London and Sicily.
Last season he sang Orest in Elektra with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Jonathan Nott, Belcore in L'elisir d'amore for Wild Arts and Steuermann Tristan und Isolde for Luxembourg Opera. He also made his Edinburgh International Festival debut in St Matthew Passion with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ryan Wigglesworth.
In concert, he sings Handel's Messiah with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and John Butt, Schubert orchestrated songs with the Luxembourg Philharmonic and Nicolas Ellis, Brahms German Requiem with Handel and Haydn and Bernard Labadie in Boston, and Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Geneva Musica.
A distinguished recitalist, his appearances include Amsterdam, Klosters Festival, Birmingham, Oxford, London's Wigmore Hall and his BBC Proms debut at Belfast's Ulster Hall.
His many awards include the Royal Over-Seas League Singers' Prize (2022), the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards (2018), the Mozart Competition and the Audience Prize at the Somerset Song Prize (2019).
Representation
Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt
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Season Highlights
Video
James Atkinson sings Belshazzar's Feast (If I Forget Thee) with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
James Atkinson makes his debut with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Jonathan Nott singing Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast at MUZA Kawasaki (21 and 22 May 2022). Credit: Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
PlayingJames Atkinson sings Belshazzar’s Feast – Babylon
James Atkinson makes his debut with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Jonathan Nott singing Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast at MUZA Kawasaki (21 and 22 May 2022). Credit: Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
PlayingJames Atkinson & Anna Tilbrook | Johanna Müller-Hermann: Herbst
British baritone James Atkinson sings Johanna Müller-Hermann’s song ‘Herbst’ accompanied by Anna Tilbrook. This performance was recorded by TallWall media at Trinity College, Oxford, as part of the Oxford Lieder Spring Song Festival 2022. It featured as part of the Forgotten Voices lecture-recital series, curated by Kitty Whately and Natasha Loges, and produced in collaboration with SWAP’ra (Supporting Women and Parents in Opera). Credit: Oxford Song
PlayingJames Atkinson – O Tod (Brahms) Oxford Lieder Festival 2020
James Atkinson sings O Tod (Brahms) at the Oxford Lieder Festival 2020. Credit: Oxford Song / TallWall Media
Playing
Selected Repertoire
Bernstein | Trouble in Tahiti (Sam) |
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Donizetti | L'elisir d'amore (Belcore) |
Haydn | Il mondo della luna (Buonafede) |
Maxwell Davies | The Lighthouse (Blazes) |
Mozart | Don Giovanni (Masetto) • Cosi fan tutte (Guglielmo) • Die Zauberflöte (Papageno) |
Poulenc | Les mamelles de Tirésias (Le Gendarme) |
Purcell | Dido and Aeneas (Aeneas) |
Ravel | L’heure espagnole (Ramiro) |
Strauss | Elektra (Orest) |
Wagner | Tristan und Isolde (Ein Steuermann) |
News
Press
Boston: Brahms Requiem | Handel & Haydn Society
Symphony Hall, BostonApr 2024Baritone James Atkinson carried his third- and sixth- movement solos (“Man passeth away like a shadow”) with dramatic intensity as the music shifts from asking the Lord, “And now, Lord, what do I wait for?” to “my hope is in Thee.