Organist James McVinnie is internationally renowned both as soloist and ensemble player, and is recognised for his fresh approach to the repertoire. Recent highlights have included concerts in the Holland Festival with Oneohtrix Point Never and the Nederlands Kamerkoor, the Salzburg Festival with Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the BBC Proms with Zürcher Kammerorchester, the opening night of Southbank Centre’s 2014 Meltdown, curated by James Lavelle, and at the MusicNOW festival, performing alongside Philip Glass, eighth blackbird and Sufjan Stevens, curated by Bryce Dessner of indie rock band The National.

James made his debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall in March 2014, giving one of the six reopening recitals on the refurbished iconic 1954 Harrison & Harrison organ. James previously held organ playing positions at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, St Albans Cathedral, and at Clare College, Cambridge where he was a student of music and Organ Scholar. His teachers were Sarah Baldock, Thomas Trotter and Hans Fagius.

A strong advocate of new music, James regularly collaborates with leading contemporary composers and musicians, including Nico Muhly, Nadia Sirota, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Sufjan Stevens, Sam Amidon, Alexi Murdoch, Mara Carlyle, Oneohtrix Point Never, James Lavelle with UNKLE, Beth Orton and Ben Frost. Composers including Nico Muhly, Martin Creed (winner of the 2001 Turner Prize), Richard Reed Parry (of Arcade Fire), Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond), and David Lang (winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in music) have writen works for him. As a continuo player, he has appeared with leading period instrument ensembles at virtually every European early music festival. He appears on numerous recordings with the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, The Cardinall’s Musick and The King’s Consort. He also regularly appears with the BBC Singers as their accompanist or soloist.

James McVinnie is a member of Bedroom Community, the Icelandic record label and close-knit collective comprising nine like-minded, yet diverse musicians from different corners of the globe. ‘Cycles’, his debut release of music written for him by Nico Muhly was released on this label in 2013 to widespread critical acclaim.

Visit his website here.

James McVinnie at Bandcamp
James McVinnie at Soundcloud