He has instigated numerous new ventures for the sector’s benefit, supporting musicians in their artistry and entrepreneurship, and putting thousands of pounds in their pockets, including the £250,000 RPS Enterprise Fund. He introduced a new era of RPS Membership as a cause that draws music-lovers and music-makers together, illuminating fresh facets of what makes classical music so worthwhile and impactful today. He re-envisaged the RPS Awards for the public benefit, positioning the occasion as ‘the biggest event in UK classical music’ (The Sunday Times) that anyone who cares about classical music can attend. 

In January 2026, James was invited by The Guardian to write about national regard for classical music. His article - linked here - was featured on the newspaper's homepage.

Prior to the RPS, James was Managing Director of Southbank Sinfonia (now Sinfonia Smith Square), the orchestra that gives graduate musicians a much-needed springboard into the music profession. Under James’s artistic and executive leadership, the Sinfonia enjoyed a period of noted prosperity and growth. He was responsible for planning and programming over 80 concerts annually; instigating the orchestra’s acclaimed role centre-stage in the National Theatre’s hit Amadeus; creating partnerships with organisations including the Southbank Centre, Notre-Dame de Paris, and Sir Nicholas Hytner’s Bridge Theatre; fulfilling bold projects with the RSC, Sadler’s Wells, iTunes and Complicité; touring the orchestra to Hong Kong, France and Italy – where it presented an ambitious annual Summer festival; commissioning new works from composers including Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Hannah Kendall and Sally Beamish; establishing the Southbank Sinfonia Foundation to safeguard the orchestra’s long-term future; and championing marginalised female talent (annually 50% of guest conductors were female and music by over 25 female composers was programmed for 2018).

Previously, James was Director of Communications of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain where he refreshed the brand of a treasured institution, putting the voice of its young members at the forefront and creating ventures nationwide for them to inspire younger counterparts. He had a lead role in programming, in which he commissioned Anna Meredith’s social media sensation HandsFree for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Prior to this he was Marketing Manager of the Royal College of Music where he also co-led the vocational advice department, advising students and alumni on promoting themselves and establishing their careers. He also boosted the RCM’s commitment to contemporary music, co-curating the UK’s first-ever festival of music by the German composer Helmet Lachenmann, broadcast on BBC Radio 3. In recognition of all this, in 2008 he was presented with Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music by HM The King.

James has written about classical music for The Guardian, Huffington Post, Gramophone and Classical Music magazine. He has been a regular guest commentator on BBC Radio 3, and on the BBC Proms television broadcasts, on BBC 2 and BBC 4. At the outset of his career, he worked with the BBC Philharmonic and for the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, and studied music at the University of York. He is a Trustee of Scotland's major new National Centre for Music.