James Christiansen
BARITONE1931-2019
Baritone, director and conductor James Christiansen OAM was considered one of Australiaโs most versatile musicians and educators.
As an opera singer he performed with Glyndebourne, Ireland’s Wexford Festival, Minnesota Opera in the USA and with all the Australianย State opera companies. His diversity as a performer is reflected in the many roles he made his own, Scrooge in ๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ, Don Alfonso in ๐๐ฐ๐ดรฌ ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ, Prus in ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ข๐ด๐ฆ, La Roche in ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ค๐ช๐ฐ, Sharpless in ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ญ๐บ, Scarpia in ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ค๐ข, and the title role in ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ง๐ง, to name a few.
Originally from Goomeri in Queensland, James was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2003 for his service to music as a performer, director and chorus master. He was Chorus Master of Opera Queensland from 1989 to 2001.