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.
Current and future engagements include Bach B Minor Mass (with Vladimir Jurowski) Bayerische Staatsoper München, Israel in Egypt Monteverdi Choir Tour, JAN MATTHIJSZ/BISSCHOP The Apocalypse based on works by JS Bach Opera2day, LICHAS Hercules Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe, STRUMPET GINGER in Purcell’s Masque of Might Opera North, concerts with Dunedin Consort and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and Ottone (title role) and ANDRONICO Tamerlano ETO.
Recently James sang HAMOR Jeptha Bregenz, roles in Monteverdi’s Ulisse Maggio Musicale, OBERON A Midsummer Night’s Dream Deutsche Oper Berlin and Opéra National de Montpellier, THE BOY Written on Skin Venice Biennale, concerts with Collegium Vocale Ghent and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and a concert with Sir George Benjamin to mark the composer’s 60th birthday at the Royal Festival Hall. Other past engagements include GOFFREDO and MAGO CRISTIANO Rinaldo Glyndebourne Festival and Glyndebourne on Tour, GUILDENSTERN Hamlet Glyndebourne on Tour, a tour of Purcell and Blow duets with countertenor Iestyn Davies Wigmore Hall and Palace of Versailles, NARCISO Agrippina Grange Festival, and FARINELLI alongside Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance in Farinelli and the King Belasco Theater, Broadway.
He created the roles of LEON in Osborn’s The Mother Mahogany Opera Group, NATHANIEL in Na’ama Zisser’s Black Sand Tete-a-Tete and Grimeborn Festivals, and JOHAN in the world premiere of David Bruce’s Nothing Glyndebourne. In concerts, James sang with The English Concert at Wigmore Hall and Rinaldo Carnegie Hall, where he made his debut performing with Sir John Eliot Gardiner in L’Orfeo. He sang ADALBERTO Ottone Festival de Beaune, ZEPHYRUS Apollo et Hyacinthus Classical Opera, Giulio Cesare Early Opera Company, Mozart Requiem Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and Bach St John Passion with Harry Bicket and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
James 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.
Christopher Broom
Phone: +44 208 768 6604
Mobile: +44 7778794397
Email: chris@atholestill.co.uk
Representation: Worldwide
News | James Hall
News | James Hall
"Countertenor James Hall had a light, clean tone with particularly good high notes. For 'Es ist vollbracht', he stepped into the eternal with his poised stillness."
Bachtrack
"Hall (so strong in Hampstead Garden Opera’s recent Calisto) was a stand-out. His bladed purity needing little pressure to fill the space, finding some lovely vocal colours in his arias."
The Artsdesk
"James Hall's Osmida had smooth, well-regulated, graceful utterance."
Opera Magazine
"Hall displayed a clean, fresh tone in a song from Dioclesian, ‘Since from my dear Astrea’s sight’, rising confidently and easily to the melodic peaks."
Opera Today
"The countertenor James Hall navigated the ecstatic melismas and fractured syllables of Benjamin's Dream of the Song with a plush, sweet, ripe tone and precise diction."
The Times
"James Hall, one of our foremost falsetto exponents, assumed the title role with immense distinction. Thanks to a mellifluous voice and commanding stagecraft he was an Emperor to his fingertips"
Bachtrack
"James Hall made a fine, upstanding Ottone; it helped that he looked the part, and the 'pathetic' element came out as stoicism rather than him being simply a drip. Hall sang his faster passages with great verve which brought a more active feeling to the character and was highly sympathetic in the more melancholy elements"
Planethugill
"...Hall's performance, particularly in the long aria that closed Act One, drew us in. This was superb serious, dramatic singing."
Planethugill
"James Hall gave the rather hapless ruler credible integrity and stature…his agility in the fast passagework and the lovely tone and vocal shading in the plangent numbers filling out the character’s motivations"
Operatoday
"The alto voice of James Hall is
heavenly as he proclaims more conciliatory messages: 'Thou shalt bring them in.'"
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