James Huw Jeffries (Countertenor)
Born in Canterbury, James Huw Jeffries has sung throughout the UK and also in Europe and North America in opera, oratorio and concert. A chorister at St John's College, Cambridge, he furthered his studies at Magdelen College, Oxford, the Royal College of Music, London and the Britten-Pears School, Alderburgh and was selected for the 1996 Erna Spoorenberg Solistenpresentatie in The Netherlands.
Operatic engagements have included Oberon (Midsummer Night's Dream) at the Theater der Landeshauptstadt in Magdeburg, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice at the Riverside Studios, Rinaldo at the Bloomsbury Theatre, Andronico in Tamerlano at the Alderburgh Festival, Nerone in L'Incoronazione di Pappa for the Cavalli Baroque Ensemble, The Spirit in Dido and Aeneas for the English Bach Festival and The Countertenor in Heiner Goebbels's Schliemann Scaffolding for Diplous Eros at The Theseum, Athens.
In a concert repertoire ranging from Monteverdi with Andrew Parrott to Schmittke with Martyn Brabbins, he has sung with orchestras such as the Darmstadt Hofkapelle, The Magdeburg Philharmonic, The Mainz Chamber Orchestra, The New Hamilton Orchestra, Canada, The Netherlands Bach Collegium, the Northern Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of The Golden Age and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at venues such as the National Concert Hall, Dublin, the Brighton and Edinburgh Festivals, the Barbican Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, St John's Smith Square, the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, the Snape Maltings and the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea.
James Huw Jeffries' engagements in 2001-2002 include Nireno in Giulio Cesare for the Royal Danish Opera, Copenhagen and at the Bergen International Festival, creating Caterpillar/Caspar in Alexander Knaifel's Alice in Wonderland at the Netherlands Opera, Messiah with Emma Kirkby and the Manchester Camerata and the Monteverdi Vespers 1610 at the Exeter Festival.
James is delighted to be returning to Gloucester Cathedral following his performance in the Chichester Psalms earlier in the season.