Freddie James is an organist and harpsichordist, based in Lucerne (CH) and LondoN

Freddie James is a versatile organist and harpsichordist, at home in everything from the earliest repertoires, through to the music of the high romantics such as Franck and Reger, and to contemporary music. He is organist of the Franziskanerkirche, Luzern (CH), and teaches organ at the Hochschule Luzern- Musik.

Freddie has given many solo recitals around Europe, including in Westminster Abbey, King’s College Cambridge, Southwark Cathedral, St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Coventry Cathedral, St John’s Smith Square, Huddersfield Town Hall, Cathèdrale St Pierre Geneva, Grote Laurenskerk Rotterdam, St Nicolaas Basilica Amsterdam, Grote Laurenskerk Alkmaar, Grossmünster Zürich, Münster Schaffhausen and the Stiftskirche Stuttgart.

He is also in demand as a continuo player on organ and harpsichord, and has performed with a number of distinguished groups, including the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Les Cornets Noirs, Capricornus Consort Basel, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, London Mozart Players, English Sackbuts and Cornets, the Armonico Consort, Ensemble Corund, Il Gusto Barocco, Staatsorchester Kassel, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. 

He has been awarded prizes at a number of international organ competitions, including the Paul Hofhaimer competition in Innsbruck, the Schnitger competition in Alkmaar, the Bach Prize in Wiesbaden, the Boston Bach International Organ Competition, the ECHO Grand Prix in Treviso, the "Agati-Tronci" competition in Pistoia, the competition at the Basilique de Valère, Sion, and the competition “Pierre de Manchicourt” in Béthune.

Freddie’s musical career started as a chorister at Southwark Cathedral, and after leaving the choir, he held positions as organ scholar at Croydon Minster and assistant organist at the St Nicolaas Basilica, Amsterdam. He was then organ scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, where, as an undergraduate, he worked on a daily basis with the college’s world famous choir, which he accompanied in its busy programme of services, concerts, tours, recordings and broadcasts. With the choir, he performed in a range of venues around the world, including in Japan (Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Tokyo Opera City), the USA, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, on a number of radio broadcasts, and on a recording for Chandos of works by Thomas Tomkins. His contribution to this recording was praised by Fiona Maddocks in the Guardian: ‘Freddie James... is a name to watch’.

After organ lessons with Daniel Moult and Peter Wright, he studied organ at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Jacques van Oortmerssen. He read Music at St John’s College, University of Cambridge, graduating with a double first, which he followed with an MPhil degree.  Whilst at Cambridge, he had organ lessons with Gordon Stewart. Subsequently, at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Künste Stuttgart, he studied organ with Ludger Lohmann and harpsichord with Jörg Halubek, graduating in both instruments with the highest marks possible. He then studied harpsichord and organ at the Schola Cantorum, Basel, with Francesco Corti, Tobias Lindner and Andrea Marcon, likewise graduating with the highest marks possible.

Freddie has been awarded a number of scholarships and prizes, including the WT Best scholarship from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, a bursary and a scholarship from the Nicholas Danby Trust, a scholarship from the Eric Thompson Trust, the Marquis of Salisbury scholarship at St John’s College, Cambridge, and a scholarship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. In the Fellowship exams of the Royal College of Organists he was awarded all the prizes and, as a consequence, a Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.