James Hall

The countertenor James Hall performs regularly with internationally renowned ensembles and opera companies, and has appeared at numerous opera houses and concert halls across the world. His repertory stretches from the Baroque to contemporary music.

His opera engagements have included Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Opéra National de Montpellier, Pisandro in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Boy /Angel 1 in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin at the Venice Biennale, Goffredo in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glyndebourne Festival and Guildenstern in Brett Dean’s Hamlet for Glyndebourne on Tour. He appeared alongside the Oscar Award-winning actor Mark Rylance as the Voice of Farinelli in Farinelli and the King on Broadway.

Concerts with Collegium Vocale Gent, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, The English Concert, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Concerto Copenhagen and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra have taken him to venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Festival de Beaune. He has also worked with conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner and Harry Bicket. He performed in George Benjamin’s Dream of the Song under the baton of the composer at the Royal Festival Hall.

Highlights of the 2023/24 season include Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Bavarian State Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, Bishop / Jan Matthijsz in the opera The Apocalypse (based on works by Bach) with Opera2day, Strumpet Ginger in Purcell’s Masque of Might with Opera North and Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Monteverdi Choir. Recent engagements have also included Lichas (Hercules) at the International Handel Festival in Karlsruhe, Bach’s St John Passion with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and Andronico (Tamerlano) and the title role in Handel’s Ottone with English Touring Opera.

James Hall studied at the Royal College of Music in London and won the Sir Geraint Evans Award and the Somerset Song Prize.