James Atkinson

British baritone James Atkinson won major prizes and notched prominent international appearances quite early in his career. He was named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist in 2023. Atkinson studied at the Royal College of Music Opera Studio in London with Alison Wells, Peter Savidge, and Gary Matthewman. He earned several forms of financial support from a Fishmongers' Company Scholarship, the Drake Calleja Trust, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Stephen Catto Memorial Scholarship, and the Sybil Tutton Opera Award. The program gave Atkinson numerous performance opportunities in addition to classwork, and by the time he graduated, he was already a seasoned performer whose credits included the role of Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in the Broadstone Music Series, Betto in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi with the Westminster Opera Company, and various concert music parts, including those in Handel's Messiah, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, and Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the London Handel Orchestra. Atkinson's debut recording came on the Toccata Classics label in 2022 when he joined the Tippett Quartet on the album Derek B. Scott: Six Song-Cycles for Baritone and Chamber Ensemble. Atkinson went on to win several prominent early-career prizes, beginning with first prize at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards in 2018. He later won the Audience Prize at the Somerset Song Prize competition in 2019 and, most prominently, the Royal Over-Seas League Singers Prize in 2022. Atkinson's operatic résumé includes performances both in Britain and abroad, with appearances at Wigmore Hall in London, the Oxford International Song Festival, the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, Germany, and the Victoria de los Ángeles Lied Festival in Barcelona, Spain. His varied operatic credits include the role of Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Welsh National Opera, the Steuermann in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and several roles at the Hurn Court Opera in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is in demand as a concert singer, performing with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in Haydn's Die Schöpfung, and in Fauré's Requiem mass with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, to take only his foreign appearances. Atkinson moved to the Rubicon label in 2023, appearing with several other singers on the thematic recital Homelands. His BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist designation runs from 2023 through 2025 and is a prestigious career development opportunity.
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