James L. Brown

Chair of Vocal Studies, Teaches Applied Voice Lessons, Vocal Pedagogy, Solo Vocal Literature, Diction, Directs Opera Production/Workshop

James L. Brown maintains an eclectic career as a tenor, conductor and stage director. James is the Coordinator of Vocal Studies at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA where he oversees a large and diverse voice program. As the director of that school’s Opera Workshop, he has been the recipient of several grants including a Regency Scholarship Grant and a Production Grant from the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music in New York, NY. His students have gone on to study at schools such as Arizona State University, Indiana University, The Juilliard School, University of Michigan Northern Arizona University and Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music.

Brown’s singing has been praised by Opera News and Early Music America. He has sung with such opera companies and presenters as New York City Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Bronx Opera, Rogue Opera (Oregon), Chautauqua Opera, Seattle Early Music Guild, Pacific Musicworks, Skylight Opera Theatre (Milwaukee), Aspen Opera Theater and The Spoleto Festival in Spoleto, Italy. The tenor has sung roles under the baton of such well-known conductors as James Conlon, John DeMain, Richard Hickox, Julius Rudel and Robert Spano and early music directors Rinaldo Alessandrini, Arthur Haas, Andrew Lawrence King and Stephen Stubbs.

James has introduced many world premieres in the last several years, among which are: Russian composer, Vladimir Ryabav’s The Border Between Light and Darkness, Sheila Silver’s The Thief of Love (released on DVD), Jack Beeson’s The Equilibrists, Riccardo Zohn-Muldoon’s Comala at the international Cervantino Festival in Guanajuato, Mexico, and Scott McAllister’s Mercury on the Moon in Reno, Nevada with the Pacific Lutheran University Wind Ensemble.

As a concert soloist, James has appeared at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Seattle’s Town Hall, Harris Concert Hall at the Aspen Festival, The Ravinia Festival in Chicago and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. Other solo concert appearances include Central Washington University, Pacific MusicWorks and Tacoma Symphony.

Brown holds degrees in voice from Loyola University/New Orleans, The Juilliard School, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.