For upcoming premieres, click here
For commissioning opportunities and free AV recordings, click here
Full scores for perusal/preview are available to download for free below – I would appreciate programme credits if you choose to use them for performance
If you’d like a copy of something that’s missing, individual parts or paper/PDF versions for performance, please contact me
Solo – Duo – Trio – Chamber Ensemble
Things my parents said about childhood
solo double bass
Commissioned for ION Shorts at Ideas of Noise Festival 2020 – Premiere 30.01.2020 at The Woodman, Birmingham
full info and programme notes
Breton!!!
An August Midnight
harp/mezzo-soprano soloist or harp/mezzo-soprano duo
ca. 8 minutes
Commissioned by The Arc Project for Songs On Thomas Hardy – Premiere 18.04.2020 at York Unitarian Chapel – POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19
Full score
The Whitewashed Wall
miniature in 3 movements for solo soprano
1 minute 40 seconds
Premiere 22.10.2020 at Roulette, Brooklyn – WATCH
Commissioned by Stephanie Lamprea for Unaccompanied: Tiny Works for Quarantine Volume I
“By dividing The Whitewashed Wall into three distinct movements, James Banner gives the singer multiple opportunities to show off elements of her virtuosity. “Why does she turn…?” offers leaping contours and a climactic high note, while “Well, once…” imposes a strict, swift tempo onto the melody. “My brush goes one with a rush…”, frenetic and clearly meant to push the singer to the very upper limit of her range, comes off as a controlled detonation.” [Nicholas Stevens, ClevelandClassical, 21.5.2020]
”Despite of everything else, Quarantine has brought the best out of many creatives…Vocalist Stephanie Lamprea asked a number of composers to write her short pieces while stuck at home. The resulting album is a gem, but English composer James Banner brings a playful setting of three Thomas Hardy poems. These tunes are light, manic, virtuosic, and full of twists and turns. A delight from within this delightles time.” [John Paul Mayse, Composer, 23.4.2020]
Profile in The Boston Musical Intellingencer
Full Score
The Physics of Rebirth
solo soprano
2 minutes 30 seconds
Commissioned by Stephanie Lamprea for Unaccompanied: Tiny Works for Quarantine Volume IV – Premiere 11.6.2020 [online]
words by Rebecca Connors
Full Score
Piece for Solo B flat Clarinet
solo Bb clarinet
1 minute 30 seconds
Commissioned by for Vanguard Manchester – Premiere online, summer 2020
Scores for other instruments below – request one
Full Score – Clarinet in B flat
Performance Notes, Clarinet in B Flat
full score – Trumpet in b flat
Full Score – Viola
Pizz Study 1 for Solo Viola
Le Poulailler
Miniature for Toy Piano
1 minute 5 seconds
Composed for George Xiaoyuan Fu – Premiered (on Piano) by Rolf Hind
Full Score
Two Movements for Three Guitars
Three guitars
7 minutes 20 seconds
Commissioned for Dominic Matthews by The Arc Project for Digital Edition – Premiere online, 22.10.2020
Full score (concert pitch)
Full Score (transposed)
Trio
Instrumentation kept secret until after the performance
ca. 8 minutes
Commissioned by for Vanguard Manchester – Premiere 21.04.2020 at LEAF Manchester – POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19
Full Score coming soon
Duo for Contrabass Flute and Bass Clarinet
contrabass flute and bass clarinet [flexible/open scoring available for performances by other instruments]
ca. 7 minutes
Full score
5 Hungarian Folksongs for String Trio
violin, viola, cello
ca. 5 minutes
Preview score
4 Bagatelles for String Trio + Double Bass
violin, viola, cello, double bass
ca. 3 minutes
Preview score
5 Bagatelles for Solo Piano
solo piano
6-8 minutes
Full score
Floating
solo piano
2 minutes
Full Score
Verre
double bass, double bass/cello, viola, violin, objects/glasses + optional electronics)
6 minutes 7 seconds
Full score
Choir
Exposure
SATB divisi + narrator
4 minutes
Full score
Voices of Berlin
improvising SSAA choir and small ensemble
Premiere 16.08.2020, JazzKeller69, Berlin
TBC, postponed due to COVID-19
Commissioned as part of the UdK/HfM Hanns Eisler Elsa-Neumann Scholarship
Community Projects
Concertino For Concert Band
concert band
18 minutes
composed as part of Adopt a Composer 2018-2019 – premiere 06.10.2019 at Salts Mill, Saltaire, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 09.01.2020
Full score
Journey On A Cloud
chamber ensemble + mixed children’s choir
6 minutes
Collaborative composition commissioned by Make The Paint Dance, for a project with a primary school in Cardiff
Full score
#BirdsongMashup
mixed electronic media + double bass
4 minutes 50 seconds
Collaborative community composition commissioned by Make The Paint Dance – premiere 31.5.2020
”It’s just a brilliant idea, I love it!” Nick Ahad – BBC Radio Leeds [31.5.2020]
As well as the above projects, I also compose and arrange for various ensembles at short notice for collaborative projects of unconventional instrumentation and functional purposes [e.g. string trios for weddings etc.]. I self-publish, so all of the scores above are available as print at home PDF score and part sets as well as high-quality printed versions which can also be delivered, just get in touch with any queries ->
Awards/Projects
- Composer in Residence for award-winning UK social enterprise Make The Paint Dance
- Kulturprojekte Berlin Scholarship 2020-21 to develop solo bass repertoire and develop new works at a distance with Stephanie Lamprea
- Selected for Making Music’s Adopt a Composer scheme 2018-2019 [in conjunction with Sound and Music, PRS Foundation and BBC Radio 3]
- Elsa-Neumann Stipendium 2018 for Voices of Berlin
- Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe Studio Award 2017
