Described by The Telegraph as “in a class of his own” James Baillieu has been the prize-winner of the Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Das Lied International Song Competition, Kathleen Ferrier and Richard Tauber competitions. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2010 and in 2012 received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust Award. In 2016 he was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Outstanding Young Artist Award.

James has given solo and chamber recitals throughout Europe and further afield. He collaborates with a wide range of singers and instrumentalists including Lawrence Power, Jack Liebeck, the Elias and Heath quartets, Ian Bostridge, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Annette Dasch, Pumeza Matshikiza, Jamie Barton, Markus Werba and Catherine Wyn Rogers. Venues include Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Musikverein, the Barbican Centre London, Wiener Konzerthaus, Cologne Philharmonie and the Laeiszhalle Hamburg. Festivals include Festpillene i Bergen, Spitalfields, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Bath, City of London, Aix-en-Provence, Verbier, St Magnus, Derry, Norfolk and Norwich and Brighton festivals. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Ulster Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Wiener Kammersymphonie.

An innovative programmer, James has already curated a number of projects, including series for the Brighton Festival, Wigmore Hall, BBC Radio 3, Bath International Festival and Perth Concert Hall.

Born in New Zealand in 1990, Benjamin Baker first picked up a violin at the age of three. Four years later he had notched up seven television appearances in New Zealand and played with the celebrated violinist Nigel Kennedy, who recommended he apply to The Yehudi Menuhin School in London. Benjamin was given a scholarship, and in 1998 moved with his family from Wellington to London. He went on to complete his studies at the Royal College of Music with Natasha Boyarsky and Felix Andrievsky, graduating in 2014 with a Masters and was

awarded the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Rose Bowl. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2013.

During his studies Benjamin won numerous prizes and awards including 1st Prize and the Audience Prize in the 2013 Windsor Festival International String Competition, 1st Prize in the 2012 Royal Over-Seas League Competition, 2nd Prize at the 2011 Postacchini International Violin Competition in Italy and the 2013 Development Prize from the Michael Hill Violin Competition in New Zealand.

In 2007 Benjamin’s debut at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra was described by The Daily Telegraph as ‘hugely impressive’. He went on to appear as

soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra (conducted by Nicholas Collon), the Orchestra Wellington, London Mozart Players, Joven Orquesta de Salamanca, Orpheus Sinfonia, Haydn Chamber Orchestra, Bath Philharmonia, the Romanian State Radio Orchestra and New English Concert Orchestra.