British baritone James Atkinson is a graduate of the Royal College of Music Opera Studio, where he studied with Alison Wells. He is a BBC New Generation Artist (2023-2025) in conjunction with BBC Radio 3 and winner of the 2022 Royal Over-Seas League Singers prize.

He made his professional debut singing the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni for Welsh National Opera, returning in 2024 for Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte. In the 2022/23 season, he sang Orest in Elektra with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Jonathan Nott, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore for Wild Arts and Steuermann Tristan und Isolde for Luxembourg Opera. Last season he added to his repertoire the role of Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with the Mozartists and Ian Page. The 2025/26 season includes his role debut as Figaro/Le nozze di Figaro on tour in the Netherlands with the Orchestra of the 18th Century and appearances in London, Geneva, Hannover, Dublin and Abu Dhabi.

His concert experience includes Belshazzar’s Feast with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Jonathan Nott, Haydn Creation with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Labadie, Schubert orchestrated songs with the Luxembourg Philharmonic and Nicolas Ellis, Brahms Requiem with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, Fauré Requiem with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Handel’s Messiah with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and John Butt and with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Copenhagen, Bach St John Passion with Polyphony and Stephen Layton, and his Edinburgh International Festival debut in Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ryan Wigglesworth.

A distinguished recitalist, his appearances include the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Klosters Festival, Barcelona, Birmingham, Oxford, London’s Wigmore Hall and his BBC Proms debut at Belfast’s Ulster Hall.