James Hall

Praised by The Arts Desk for his ‘flawless’, ‘stand-out’ performances on opera, concert and theatre stages around the world, countertenor James Hall enjoys great success in baroque and contemporary repertoire, and regularly appears with some of the world’s leading ensembles and opera companies.

Future and recent engagements include OTTONE Ottone and ANDRONICO Tamerlano for ETO, HAMOR Jeptha for the Vorarlberger Landestheater Bregenz, LICHAS Hercules Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, roles in a new Robert Carsen production of Monteverdi’s Ulisse for the Maggio Musicale as well as concerts with Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Ghent. Previous seasons saw appearances with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, debuts at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Opéra National de Montpellier as OBERON A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as the Venice Biennale as THE BOY in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin. In the UK he sang GOFFREDO Rinaldo and GUILDENSTERN Hamlet for Glyndebourne on Tour as well as a concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Sir George Benjamin to mark the composer’s 60th birthday at the Royal Festival Hall.

Other past engagements include a tour of Purcell and Blow duets with countertenor Iestyn Davies at Wigmore Hall and the Palace of Versailles, NARCISO Agrippina Grange Festival, and the role of FARINELLI alongside Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance in Farinelli and the King at the Belasco Theater on Broadway.

James created the roles of LEON in Osborn’s The Mother Mahogany Opera Group, NATHANIEL in Na’ama Zisser’s Black Sand for Tete-a-Tete and Grimeborn Festivals, and JOHAN in the world premiere of David Bruce’s Nothing Glyndebourne. In concerts, he sang Bach Cantatas with The English Concert and Harry Bicket at Wigmore Hall for Bach Advent Cantatas, as well as their performance of Rinaldo at Carnegie Hall, where he made his debut performing with Sir John Eliot Gardiner in L’Orfeo. He sang ADALBERTO in Ottone with George Petrou and Il Pomo d’Oro at Festival de Beaune, Unsuk Chin’s Cantatrix Sopranica for Silbersee and Asko|Schönberg, ZEPHYRUS in Apollo et Hyacinthus with Ian Page and Classical Opera, joined the Early Opera Company for their performances of Giulio Cesare, Mozart Requiem with Masaaki Suzuki and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and Bach St John Passion with Harry Bicket and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Hall studied at the Royal College of Music, and was the recipient of the Sir Geraint Evans Prize in 2009 and again in 2010, and the inaugural Somerset Song Prize in 2013.