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Layton
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r. Layton James, known to all as "Skip,", has been principal keyboard artist with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) since 1969, performing on a host of instruments including the harpsichord, piano, organ, celesta and synthesizer.
He has conducted December Holiday Concerts with the SPCO, in addition to The People's Messiah.
His latest composition project is a realization of the Bach B-minor Partita, originally for solo violin, for full string orchestra.
It was premiered by Steven Copes and the SPCO in April 2002.
He has also established an international reputation as a composer of cadenzas for Baroque and Classical concertos.
Acknowledged as an outstanding chamber musician, orchestra soloist and keyboard improviser in the Baroque style, James is also a conductor and composer. He recently conducted Mozart's The Magic Flute at The College of Saint Catherine. He is the recipient of a grant from the Bremer Foundation through the American Composers Forum. James' performance credits include appearances with the Atlanta and Saint Louis symphonies, the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra, and music festivals at Lake Placid (New York), Mt. Gretna (Pennsylvania) and Cass City (Michigan). Currently music director and principal organist of Bethel Lutheran Church in Hudson, Wisconsin, James has been a clinician for the American Choral Directors Association and the American Guild of Organists. He has performed as organist and harpsichordist on several LifeStyle Records and is the featured harpsichordist on Robert Shaw's recordings of Handel's Messiah in 1984 and 1987. His harpsichord skills have also been utilized by conductors Leonard Slatkin, Neville Mariner and Raymond Leppard, as well as by soloists Jean Pierre Rampal, Pinchas Zuckerman and Mstislav Rostropovich. Also a builder of harpsichords, James plays one of his own instruments with the SPCO. He trained as a musicologist under Dr. Donald Grout at Cornell University and has taught music history and performance practice courses at the University of Hawaii, Stanford, Cornell, Macalester College and Westminster Choir College. He presents the popular "Fanfares" pre-concert talks before SPCO Basically Baroque and Morning Coffee concerts. In his spare time, James is an enthusiastic fly fisher, sailor and gardener. CanticaNOVA Publications is pleased to offer the following setting by Layton James in our catalogue:
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