James Johnstone

Organ & Harpsichord

James Johnstone studied organ and harpsichord with Jill Severs in London and Ton Koopman in The Hague. For some 20 years he has been active as a continuo player on the UK early music scene playing with all of the major ensembles, notably as a principal of the Gabrieli Consort and Players with whom over 17 years he gave hundreds of concerts and made 22 recordings. he has also performed with Boston Symphony Orchestra (Bernard Haitink), Royal Philharmonia (Pinchas Zuckemann), European Community Chamber Orchestra (Yehudi Menuhin).

These days his interests are now focused on recital work, chamber music and teaching. As a recitalist he has performed throughout the UK as well as in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Iceland, Spain, Israel, Colombia and most recently the USA. He has made 6 unanimously acclaimed solo discs of works by Blow, Gibbons, Pasquini, Cornet, Elizabethan Virginalists and a Bach recital on the Waalse Kerk organ, Amsterdam.

Chamber music has always been of primary importance and as such has played with Florilegium since 2001 (10 discs and tours of Europe and the Americas), Trinity Baroque, I Furiosi (Toronto), Harmonie Universelle (Kšöln), London Baroque, Concordia and La Serenissima

Respected as a teacher, James is professor of early keyboards at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at Trinity College of Music, and has given masterclasses in Europe and the States.