Awards + Projects
Composer in Residence for award-winning UK social enterprise Make The Paint Dance
Selected for Making Music’s Adopt a Composer scheme 2018-2019 [in conjunction with Sound and Music, PRS Foundation and BBC Radio 3]
Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe Studio Award 2017
Elsa-Neumann Stipendium 2018 for Voices of Berlin
For upcoming premieres, please click here
Chamber/Small Ensemble/Solo
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
An August Midnight
harp/mezzo-soprano soloist or harp/mezzo-soprano duo
Commissioned by The Arc Project for Songs On Thomas Hardy – Premiere 18.04.2020 at York Unitarian Chapel – POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19
The Whitewashed Wall
miniature in 3 movements for solo soprano
Commissioned by Stephanie Lamprea for Unaccompanied: Tiny Works for Quarantine Volume I
[Please consider purchasing the album on Bandcamp in order to support artists during the COVID-19 pandemic]
“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
Piece for Solo Bb Clarinet
solo Bb clarinet
Commissioned by for Vanguard Manchester – Premiere online, summer 2020
Le Poulailler
Miniature for Toy Piano
Composed for George Xiaoyuan Fu – Premiered (on Piano) by Rolf Hind
Piece for Violin
solo violin
Commissioned by The Arc Project for Digital Edition – Premiere online, 2020
3 movements for 3 guitars
3 guitars
Commissioned by The Arc Project for Digital Edition – Premiere online, 2020
Trio for…
Instrumentation kept secret until after the performance
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]
5 Hungarian Folksongs for String Trio
violin, viola, cello
4 Bagatelles for String Trio + Double Bass
violin, viola, cello, double bass
5 Bagatelles for Solo Piano
solo piano
Floating
solo piano
Le Az Utcán Le, Le Le + Hold, Hold, Fényes Lánc
chamber ensemble + voice
Review in Der Tagesspiegel (German)
Verre
double bass, double bass/cello, viola, violin, objects/glasses + optional electronics)
Choir
Exposure
SATB divisi + narrator
improvising SSAA choir and small ensemble – Premiere 16.08.2020, JazzKeller69, Berlin
Commissioned as part of the UdK/HfM Hanns Eisler Elsa-Neumann Scholarship
Community Projects
Concertino For Concert Band
concert band
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
Journey On A Cloud
chamber ensemble + mixed children’s choir
Collaborative composition commissioned by Make The Paint Dance, for a project with a primary school in Cardiff
#BirdsongMashup
mixed electronic media, violin, viola, double bass, voices
Collaborative community composition commissioned by Make The Paint Dance – ongoing – premiere online, May 2020
submit your birdsongs to be part of the piece, more info below:
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, meaning 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 ->
