Described by The Daily Telegraph as ‘in a class of his own’ James Baillieu has been the prize-winner of the Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Das Lied International Song Competition (in both 2009 & 2011), Kathleen Ferrier and Richard Tauber Competitions. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2010 and in 2012 won a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award.

Over the last year James has recorded for BBC Radio 3 with the Elias Quartet, Allan Clayton and Ben Johnson. He has given solo and chamber recitals throughout Europe and further afield, collaborating with singers Jared Holt, Gerard Collett, Sir Thomas Allen, Mark Padmore, Pumeza Matshikiza, Katherine Broderick, Marcus Farnsworth, Martene Grimson, Jacques Imbrailo, Sarah-Jane Brandon and Kishani Jayasinghe. Festivals and venues have included Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, National Concert Hall Dublin, Festpillene i Bergen, the City of London, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Aix-en-Provence, Derry and Norfolk & Norwich Festivals.  

During 2011 James gave several performances of Brahms’s Piano Quintet with the Heath Quartet including Spitalfields and Music in Paxton Festivals, and attended the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove working with Gerhard Schulz. Engagements this season include a concert with Annette Dasch at the Berlin Konzerthaus; recitals at Wigmore Hall including Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Ben Johnson broadcast by BBC Radio 3, and collaborations with flautist Adam Walker, cellist Timothy Lowe, mezzos Kathryn Rudge and Helen Sherman; and solo recitals in the Nottingham International and Leeds International Series. In 2012 James records with Adam Walker for Sonimage.

An experienced coach, James works regularly at the George Solti Accademia di Bel Canto in Italy (working with Mirella Freni and Leo Nucci), is a repertory professor for the Encuentro de musica y Academia de Santander in Spain, and a music coach for the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He is an alumnus of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, a scholar for the Samling Foundation (working with Sir Thomas Allen and Yvonne Kenny) and has participated in the European Liedforum in Berlin.

Born in South Africa, James graduated from the University of Cape Town with distinction in 2004. He went on to win a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied with Michael Dussek, Malcolm Martineau and Kathryn Stott. In 2007 he graduated with a Dip.RAM and received the Christian Carpenter Award in recognition of his outstanding achievements. He was appointed a Hodgson Junior Fellow during the 2007/08 season and in 2011 was appointed a Professor of Piano Accompaniment.

In 2004 James participated in the International Russian Music Piano Competition in California at which, as a laureate, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Vienna International Pianists Academy, where he won the prestigious Rosario Marciano Prize.   

During his studies James won numerous prizes and awards including the Royal Over-Seas League Competition Prize. He has taken part in masterclasses with Graham Johnson, Roger Vignoles, Julius Drake, Thomas Quasthoff, Kiri Te Kanawa, Philip Langridge, Jan Philip Schulze, Sherrill Milnes, Richard Stokes, Helmut Deutsch, Pavel Vernikov, Rudolf Jansen and Maxim Vengerov.