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The Scottish choral and operatic conductor, James Grossmith, began his musical training as a music scholar at Charterhouse before being elected organ scholar of Clare College, Cambridge. Whilst at Clare, he acted as Musical Director of Cambridge Chamber Opera, in which capacity he directed productions of Mozart's Così fan tutte, Georges Bizet's Carmen, and Haydn's Il Mondo della Luna. In 1998 he was appointed Assistant Director of Music at Cranleigh School and Assistant Conductor of the Cranleigh and Godalming choral societies. He also directed the vocal octet Claritas in a number of recordings for the Etcetera label, including an award winning recording of sacred polyphony by Luca Marenzio. In 2001 he won a scholarship for postgraduate conducting studies under Martyn Brabbins and Dr Alasdair Mitchell at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) and moved to Glasgow. He was appointed Assistant Conductor for Haddo Opera's 2003 production of Lucia di Lammermoor and subsequently became Musical Director of the company. After completing his conducting studies in July 2003, Grossmith was awarded the Hugh S Robertson prize for Orchestral Conducting, the Peter Morrison Prize for contributions to the musical life of the Academy and the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. In 2004 he completed a year of prize winning studies as a repetiteur scholar at the Academy.
Until the end of 2005, James Grossmith was Director of Choral Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), regularly conducting the RSAMD symphony orchestra, chamber choir and chorus. In January 2006 he was appointed Chorusmaster of Scottish Opera. He is also Director of University of Glasgow Chapel Choir. His recent work with Scottish Opera includes conducting the company in performances of George Frideric Handel's Tamerlano, Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor, Wier's A Night at the Chinese Opera, Chimarosa's The Secret Marriage, Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. In addition to his work at Scottish Opera he works as a freelance conductor and has directed the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Opera for All, London Sinfonietta, Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Aberdeen Sinfonietta, and Paragon Ensemble. Grossmith continues to work with the Wordsworth Singers as a guest conductor. |
