Pianist/Composer

Layton James studied musicology at Cornell University under Dr. Donald Grout, taught at The University of Hawaii and Stanford University. He led chamber ensembles designed to perform in historically informed ways, exploring the latest research in Baroque performance practice. For forty-two years, Mr. James was principal keyboardist with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, playing harpsichord continuo to Haydn symphonies, Baroque concertos, and making recordings as an improvising continuo player with Pinchas Zukerman, Slava Rostropovich, Robert Shaw, Christopher Hogwood, and Neville Marriner, among others. At the SPCO, he played harpsichords that he had personally built, and other instruments made by him are in wide use by private individuals and colleges. Most recently, he was harpsichordist for the chamber group "The Blue Baroque Band," which has produced two CD's of music by Telemann and Vivaldi, and he recorded the six Zelenka Trios for Crystal Records along with oboists Erin Hannigan and Kathryn Greenbank, bassoonist Benjamin Kamins, and bassist Timothy Pitts.