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Biography
James attended Bakersfield College out of high school where he studied composition, theory and piano with Dr. John Gerhold, who introduced James to the art of composition. James then attended California State University, Bakersfield where he studied composition, theory and 20th century history with Dr. Doug Davis and trumpet with Charles Brady. He received his BA in music composition with a minor in philosophy in 2005 graduating magna cum laude as a member of Alpha Chi National Honors society, also earning the music department's outstanding graduating senior award. He then went on to get his Master of Music in Composition from Oklahoma City University's Wanda L. Bass School of Music studying composition with Dr. Edward Knight and music theory with Dr. Ildar Khannanov. James has participated in master classes with, among others, Jack Stamp, Ovid Young, David Maslanka, Laura Schwendinger, Jesse Ayers, Jack Gallagher, Stephen Gryc, Sujin Nam and Sy Brandon. James has been the recipient of many music and academic scholarships throughout his college career and has won or placed in the Bakersfield Symphony New Directions Composition Contest three times.
Most recently James was commissioned by the 2nd Annual San Francisco Chamber Winds Festival to be performed by their resident ensemble Chamber Mix. This piece was Metempsychosis and was well received at the festival and has been recently released on the CD New Music for Concert by Beauport Classical. Metempsychosis was also selected for performance on the 2008 SCI Region VIII conference at CSU Stanislaus in Turlock California and the 2009 SCI Region VI Conference at Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma City.