The young British tenor James Elliott was born in London, where he studied voice at the Royal Academy of Music. He made his debut as the First Prisoner in Fidelio at Glyndebourne under Sir Simon Rattle, followed by Fenton (Falstaff, Verdi) for Royal Academy Opera.

James was a member of the Zurich Opera Studio from 2003-5 where he participated in masterclasses with Francisco Araiza and Reri Grist, for the studio he appeared as Don Giocondo (La Pietra del Paragone, Rossini) in a production that guested in Genoa (Palazzo Ducale) and Mesières, and was Tamino in the Magic Flute for children in Zurich Opera, a production which toured throughout Switzerland and was recorded for DVD. During that time, James participated in many of Zurich Opera's main productions as well as guesting in the Ticino Festival, singing Paulino (Il Matrimonio Segreto, Cimarosa).

On leaving the Zurich Opera Studio James was engaged at the Stadttheater Bern where he performed a wide range of roles: Iskra in Tschaikowsky’s Mazeppa, Metsestaja in Sallinen's Kullervo, Jasperino in Vipern by Christian Jost and with great success, Fenton in Verdi`s Falstaff. He will return to Bern as a guest soloist for the 2011-12 season.

2008 - 10 James was a member of the Komische Oper Berlin where he made his debut as Tamino in The Magic Flute and was Laertes in the world premiere of Jost's Hamlet. New roles there in 2009/10 were Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Ernesto in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale as well as Solo Tenor in a staged version of the Mozart Requiem.

As a guest soloist James appeared n the 2007-08 season at the Aix en Provence Festival as Nencio in Haydn's L'Infedelta Delusa under Jérémie Rhorer, was Ferrando in Guy Joosten's production of Cosi Fan Tutte (Slovenian National Theatre) and Nemorino L´Elisir d`Amore at the Mecklenburgisches Landestheater Neustrelitz, Germany. James sang Belfiore, Il Viaggio a Reims, Rossini in a co-production of the Opéra National de Montpellier, Théâtre Du Capitole de Toulouse, Grand Théâtre de Reims, Opéra de Nice, Opéra de Marseille, Opéra National de Bordeaux and others under the patronage of Alberto Zedda from 2008-10. In May 2010, James appeared as Remendado in Philippe Arlaud’s Carmen production at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden under the baton of Teodor Currentzis. In August 2010 James sang Orimante in a concert performance of A. Scarlatti's 'Penelope la casta' at the Rheingau Music Festival with the Lautten Compagney under Wolfgang Katschner, a production which was later recorded for the first time by the WDR in Cologne.

Projects in 2011included Suo-Chong in Lehár’s Das Land des Laechelns at the Schlossfestpiele Neustrelitz (Germany’s major operetta festival) and Camacho in Mendelssohn’s opera Die Hochzeit des Camacho with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko (CD recording). In 2012, James for instance sings the role of Giovanni in a staged version of Handel’s oratorio La Resurrezione with the Lautten Compagney in Berlin and at the Halle Handel Festival as well as the part of Don Curzio in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Perm Opera under Teodor Currentzis (including a cd production for Sony). In 2013, James Elliott will return to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden for the role of Don Basilio in Mozart`s Le Nozze di Figaro alongside Anna Netrebko as Countess under the baton of Thomas Hengelbrock.

James is a prize-winner of various competitions, including the Glyndebourne-Wessex Prize, the International Ernst Haefliger Opera Competition, as well as the Seghizzi Competition for oratorio and song. He was awarded the HSBC Laureate in Aix-en-Provence and under their auspices participated in a concert tour of Europe and China in 2008.

In Oratorio, James has appeared frequently at the Tonhalle Zurich in such works as Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël and Mozart´s Davide Penitente, he sang Messiah with the RIAS Chamber Choir and Orchestra, Acis and Galatea under the renowned recorder player Maurice Steiger, and Jonathan in Handel’s Saul and J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (2008, Tonhalle Zurich) with the Baroque Orchestra Capriccio Basle, as well as concerts with Marek Janowski and the Orchestre de la Suisse-Romande, he has also worked frequently with the Berner Bach Chor. He performed Handel`s Messiah and Benjamin Britten`s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings in Gorizia, Italy and in 2008 he made his debut at the Konzerthaus Berlin singing J.S. Bach’s Magnificat with the Lautten Compagney. In 2009 James Elliott sang the tenor-part in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in the Auditorio de Galicia, Spain with the Real Filharmonia de Galicia under the baton of Maximinio Zumalave. In 2010 James sang tenor solo in the Monteverdi Vespers with the RIAS Chorus and the Orchestra ‘Akademie fuer Alte Musik Berlin’ in a tour which included the Rheingau music festival, he performed Schubert’s E flat major mass at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid with the Orquesta Radio Televisión Española under Carlos Kalmar, he then returned to the Tonhalle Zurich for the Bach B -minor mass before embarking on a tour of Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam under Jan Willem de Vriend with concerts at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam and the Philharmonie am Gasteig in Munich. In 2011 concerts for instance include Bach's B minor mass in London and with the Basler Bach Chor in Switzerland, and Mendelssohn's Elijah at the Tonhalle Zurich. In 2013, James Elliott will sing the arias in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion under Enoch zu Guttenberg at the Philharmonie am Gasteig in Munich.

Last update April 2012