James Ham enjoys a growing reputation across the orchestral, opera, and ballet repertoire for his versatility, wealth of ideas, and genuine music making.
His most recent opera engagements include performances of La Cenerentola and L’Incoronazione di Poppea with English Touring Opera, Oscar Straus’ operetta The Chocolate Soldier with Opera della Luna, and the first performance in England of Tchaikovsky’s The Oprichnik with Chelsea Opera Group and a cast of leading soloists. As an Assistant Conductor he has worked with Edward Gardner at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Peter Grimes) and Norwegian National Opera (La Damnation de Faust), with Wayne Marshall at the Theater an der Wien (Porgy and Bess), and been part of the music staff at the Royal Opera House (Tosca).
Away from opera, James has conducted concerts with the RTE Concert Orchestra, Magdeburg Philharmonie, Neubrandenburg Philharmonie, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Ensemble Modern Akademie, Gibraltar Philharmonic, and tours with Scottish Ballet and Northern Ballet. He was an Assistant Conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, working with Edward Gardner and Vladimir Jurowski on several programmes, and was Conducting Fellow at the Lucerne Festival Academy. James studied conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatory and Universität der Künste Berlin.