JamesAtkinson

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Baritone
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(c) Ben Durrant
(c) Ben Durrant

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Hannah Bishay

Hannah Bishay

Associate Artist Manager

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).

James is based in London

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Follow James

Season Highlights

Aug 2024
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Edinburgh International Festival Mendelssohn arr. Bach: St Matthew Passion Ryan Wigglesworth (conductor) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Aug 2024 - Aug 2024
Ulster Hall, Belfast
Faure La Bonne Chanson Michael Pandya (piano) Van Kujik Quartet
Oct 2024
Cadogan Hall, London
The Count | Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro in concert Ian Page (conductor) The Mozartists

Selected Repertoire

BernsteinTrouble in Tahiti (Sam)
DonizettiL'elisir d'amore (Belcore)
HaydnIl mondo della luna (Buonafede)
Maxwell DaviesThe Lighthouse (Blazes)
MozartDon Giovanni (Masetto)   •   Cosi fan tutte (Guglielmo)   •   Die Zauberflöte (Papageno)
PoulencLes mamelles de Tirésias (Le Gendarme)
PurcellDido and Aeneas (Aeneas)
RavelL’heure espagnole (Ramiro)
StraussElektra (Orest)
WagnerTristan und Isolde (Ein Steuermann)

News

Press

  • Boston: Brahms Requiem | Handel & Haydn Society

    Symphony Hall, Boston
    Apr 2024
    • Baritone 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.

Discography