James Weeks

James Weeks is a composer and a conductor specialising in new music, based in the UK.

His music has been performed and broadcast worldwide, and seven portrait discs of his work have been released to date: “Book of Flames and Shadows“ (Winter&Winter, 2022), “Summer“ (another timbre, 2021), “windfell” (another timbre, 2019), “Mala punica” (Winter&Winter, 2017), “Signs of Occupation” (Métier 2016), “mural” (confront 2015) and “TIDE” (Métier 2013). His work also appears on the Wandelweiser, HCR and NMC labels.

He typically (but not exclusively) writes for small ensembles or soloists, exploring pared-down, ‘primary’ musical syntaxes and systems, with particular interests in microtonality, modality and indeterminacy, embodied/haptic dimensions of sound, and plain-speaking. Weeks often works with text and with found materials, particularly early music, and has an ongoing preoccupation with the music and aesthetics of the Italian Renaissance, which he also explores with vocal ensemble EXAUDI. He has also made a lot of work for open instrumentations, spatialised performances and performance installations.

Collaborators and other performers of his work have included Quatuor Bozzini, London Sinfonietta, Royal Northern Sinfonia, EXAUDI, Ives Ensemble, Plus-Minus, Distractfold, An Assembly, Talea, Ekmeles, CoMA, Mira Benjamin, Lucy Goddard and Siwan Rhys, Apartment House and Anton Lukoszevieze. His music is published by University of York Music Press. Awards include a British Composer Award (2018) for Libro di fiammelle e ombre, written for EXAUDI, and an Ivors Composer Award (2019) for Leafleoht, written for Quatuor Bozzini.

In 2002 Weeks founded EXAUDI with soprano Juliet Fraser, now regarded as one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles for new music. As well as maintaining a busy international touring and recording schedule with EXAUDI, he works regularly as a guest conductor, working with instrumental ensembles and orchestras such as Royal Northern Sinfonia, BBC Singers, London Sinfonietta, musikFabrik, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and L’Instant Donné. He has also worked extensively with amateur musicians, both at CoMA (Contemporary Music for All), and in early music fora and summer schools around the UK. Weeks was Musical Director of both New London Chamber Choir and Orlando Chamber Choir (London) from 2007-2011.

A lapsed organist, he still occasionally appears as a pianist in new and experimental music. In 2006 he co-founded the ensemble Kürbis with the composer Claudia Molitor, which was active until 2012, giving a number of notable performances of Cardew, Skempton, Chris Newman and younger British composers.

Weeks is also active as a writer on new music, with published articles on Cassandra Miller and Christopher Fox, and a pair of chapters on Michael Finnissy in the “Routledge Critical Perspectives” volume (2019). He compiled and edited the CoMA Partsong Book, a volume of new experimental music for small vocal groups, published in March 2018.

Previously an Organ Scholar at Queens’ College Cambridge (1997-2000), he studied composition with Michael Finnissy privately and then at the University of Southampton, from where he was awarded a PhD in Composition in 2005.

He was Associate Head of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London from 2012-17, and took up his present position as Assistant Professor of Composition at Durham University in October 2017.