James Henshaw
Chorus Master
James Henshaw studied music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar and award winner as both conductor and pianist, and at the GSMD. He joined ENO in August 2015 and became the company’s youngest ever Chorus Master in August 2016, leaving at the end of 2019 to pursue a freelance conducting career.
Previously for ENO: Mask of Orpheus, Lucia di Lammermoor, War Requiem, Paul Bunyan, The Marriage of Figaro, Satyagraha, Marnie, The Barber of Seville, Aida, The Day After, Jenufa.
Career Highlights
During his tenure the ENO Chorus won both an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera and Best Chorus at the International Opera Awards.
Notable operatic engagements include: La bohème, assisting on Donizetti’s L’assedio di Calais and Il furioso (ETO); Die Zauberflöte (Longborough Festival Opera, Garsington Opera), as well as assisting Anthony Negus and Christian Curnyn; assistant conductor to Stuart Stratford (Scottish Opera), with outreach performances of Jonathan Dove’s Flight; UK premiere of Dove’s The Day After, Opera for All gala, Paul Bunyan, The Mask of Orpheus (ENO). He is the founder and principal conductor of The Outcry Ensemble, which performs new music in each of its concerts, including works by Kate Whitley, Joel Rust, Laurence Osborn, Josephine Stephenson and Freya Waley-Cohen. Other notable engagements include assisting Mark Wigglesworth on Owen Wingrave (Aldeburgh) and at the BBC Proms with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 2015 and 2016, and working with Ivor Bolton as Chorus Master on Monteverdi’s Orfeo (Bayerischer Staatsoper).
Last updated: 9th February 2023