About

James Widden, violin/viola

James studied Music and English at Newcastle and Sussex universities, and undertook a postgraduate course at Trinity College of Music, studying violin with Nona Liddell and viola with Nic Pendlebury. While at Trinity he led all the orchestras and the Contemporary Music Group, including performances with Evelyn Glennie at the Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich, of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder at the Royal Festival Hall, and of the solo violin part in Berg's Chamber Concerto.

Since graduating, James has pursued a busy freelance career in London and the south-east, including working with the London Sinfonietta, London Mozart Players, the Endymion Ensemble, and performances at the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic. He is leader (and string fixer) of St Paul's Sinfonia, a professional chamber orchestra based in Deptford. He has performed the Kurt Weill Violin concerto with the Bergamo Ensemble and with Southern Winds, at the Canterbury and Brighton Festivals, and at the Royal Northern College of Music. With St Paul's Sinfonia he has played the violin solo in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, Autumn as part of a performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and the Beethoven violin concerto.