Aaron James

Born in Toronto, Canada, Aaron James holds the ARCT diploma in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and an honours Bachelor of Music in organ performance from the University of Western Ontario, where he received the Faculty of Music Gold Medal.

A dedicated church musician, he has served in several Anglican parishes in Canada, and is currently organist at Holy Cross Anglican Church, Webster. As assistant organist to the Cathedral Singers of Ontario, he has performed on two summer tours in England, where he played services and recitals in the cathedrals of Truro, Gloucester and Exeter. Aaron has also received attention for his work in musicology; his paper on liturgical organ music in 17th-century France was selected for publication in the journal Nota Bene, and he has presented talks both for broadcast and for live audiences on music by Olivier Messiaen and Iannis Xenakis.

Aaron is currently a candidate for the Master's degree in organ performance at the Eastman School of Music, where he studies organ with Hans Davidsson and improvisation with William Porter; previous teachers have included Paul Merritt and John Tuttle. His extramusical interests include Thomistic philosophy, modernist fiction, and beets.