Conductor James Bowstead
James Bowstead
We are delighted to introduce our new MD from September. We are very much looking forward to the new term under James's leadership.
James Bowstead is Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral, where he is responsible for the cathedral’s musical output, directing the cathedral choirs for the daily services, training and recruiting the boy and girl choristers, and coordinating a regular programme of concerts, both by the cathedral choir and by outside performers.
He was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and Jesus College, Oxford, where he was the Senior Organ Scholar, responsible for directing the voluntary choir, with whom he toured to Cologne, Bratislava, Vienna, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Whilst at Oxford he studied organ with Steven Grahl and choral conducting with Paul Spicer.
He graduated in 2015, following which he worked as Organist in Residence at Pangbourne College in Berkshire and Organ Scholar at All Saints Church, Fulham, home to one of the best amateur church choirs in the country. He was then Organ Scholar at Peterborough Cathedral before moving to Wakefield in 2018 to take up the post of Assistant Director of Music. His time in Wakefield has included an extended period as Acting Director of Music, before being invited to take up the position of Director of Music in 2023. Since Autumn 2021 he has also been the musical director of St Peter’s Consort, described as ‘one of Yorkshire’s premier chamber choirs’.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and is in regular demand as both a soloist and an accompanist throughout the local area and beyond. He has given organ recitals at Ripon and Bradford Cathedrals, Christchurch Priory in Dorset, and at the 2015 Three Choirs Festival in Hereford, and regularly performs with tenor Chris Why, including complete performances of Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Schubert’s Winterreise.
He is very much looking forward to working with Wakefield Festival Chorus from September and is excited for the new challenges and opportunities.’
James Bowstead is Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral, where he is responsible for the cathedral’s musical output, directing the cathedral choirs for the daily services, training and recruiting the boy and girl choristers, and coordinating a regular programme of concerts, both by the cathedral choir and by outside performers.
He was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and Jesus College, Oxford, where he was the Senior Organ Scholar, responsible for directing the voluntary choir, with whom he toured to Cologne, Bratislava, Vienna, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Whilst at Oxford he studied organ with Steven Grahl and choral conducting with Paul Spicer.
He graduated in 2015, following which he worked as Organist in Residence at Pangbourne College in Berkshire and Organ Scholar at All Saints Church, Fulham, home to one of the best amateur church choirs in the country. He was then Organ Scholar at Peterborough Cathedral before moving to Wakefield in 2018 to take up the post of Assistant Director of Music. His time in Wakefield has included an extended period as Acting Director of Music, before being invited to take up the position of Director of Music in 2023. Since Autumn 2021 he has also been the musical director of St Peter’s Consort, described as ‘one of Yorkshire’s premier chamber choirs’.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and is in regular demand as both a soloist and an accompanist throughout the local area and beyond. He has given organ recitals at Ripon and Bradford Cathedrals, Christchurch Priory in Dorset, and at the 2015 Three Choirs Festival in Hereford, and regularly performs with tenor Chris Why, including complete performances of Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Schubert’s Winterreise.
He is very much looking forward to working with Wakefield Festival Chorus from September and is excited for the new challenges and opportunities.’