James Rhodes

Bookings : available for concert touring / festivals

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Often described as the “Jamie Oliver" of classical music, JAMES RHODES is "a classical pianist with a rock-star attitude”.

Fresh from performing at the Holders Festival in Barbados, upcoming concerts for 2010 are E4 Udderbelly (Southbank), Cheltenham Music Festival and Latitude Festival where he'll be the first solo classical musician to play core-classical piano repertoire at the festival.

James’ second eagerly-awaited CD is entitled ‘Now would all Freudians please stand aside’ which is now available on the award-winning independent classical label Signum Classics. This follows his debut album ‘Razor Blades Little Pills and Big Pianos’ which reached number one on iTunes in May 2009.

James just completed filming a BBC Four music documentary celebrating the 200th anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin’s birth to be broadcast in 2010. The documentary follows Rhodes on a journey through Warsaw, Brussels and Paris in search of the truth behind Chopin’s obsession with the human voice. It culminates with his return to London and features footage filmed at his performance at the Tabernacle.

James makes it his mission to seek out new audiences for classical music through his choice of venues and performance style. He has performed mostly in non-traditional classical music houses, such as the Roundhouse, the 100 Club, Proud Galleries and the Tabernacle, Notting Hill. Rhodes has also played at Blenheim Palace and also the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall. In Spring 2009 he was invited as a special guest performer for the Classical Brit Award nominations ceremony.

Rhodes dispenses with the ‘straitjacket’ approach to classical music. On stage he interacts with his audience, sharing his thoughts on the music and composers. By using his trademark stand-up style, James brings a touch of rock n roll to each performance.

"The joy of James Rhodes is the way he reaches out to young, unconverted audiences by throwing them into classical music’s deep end — Beethoven, Bach — with performances of such natural ease and brilliance that no one can resist." Geoff Brown, The Times