Currently Concertmaster of Hong Kong Sinfonietta, James Cuddeford is one of Australia’s most versatile musicians and has performed extensively around the world as both soloist and chamber musician. He won a full scholarship at age 12 to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England, and continued his studies in Violin Performance at the Royal Northern College of Music. His principal teacher was Yehudi Menuhin in violin, and he has won prizes in a series of important competitions including the First Prize at the 1996 Charles Hennen International Competition in Holland.
Cuddeford has frequently appeared at major international festivals in many of the world’s most prestigious halls. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as John Lill, Charles Rosen, Stephen Kovacevich, Cristina Ortiz, Michael Collins, Heinz Holliger, Yehudi Menuhin, Bruno Giuranna, Pieter Wispelwey and Michel Dalberto. He has performed concertos with orchestras including the Camerata Lysy Switzerland, BBC Scottish National, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Jena Philharmonic Germany, and the Queensland, Adelaide and Tasmanian symphony orchestras.
Cuddeford joined the internationally acclaimed Australian String Quartet in 1998 and has directed from the violin many orchestras in Australia, Japan and Europe. He lectured in violin at both the Elder Conservatorium and the Australian Institute of Music, and has given masterclasses at many major institutions around the world. He has recorded for ABC Classics, Tall Poppies, Melba Recordings and Toccata Classics, and plays on a violin made by Nicolò Gagliano in 1769.
Also a highly active and renowned interpreter and composer of contemporary music, Cuddeford has given numerous world première and worked with many of the most important composers of our time, including Penderecki, Xenakis, Birtwistle, Smalley and Dutilleux. At age 15, he was the youngest finalist in the BBC Young Composer of the Year, and the following year the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned and premiered his first major orchestral work. He continued his composition studies at the University of Manchester with John Casken, and chamber music studies at the International Musicians Seminar with György Kurtág. He also attended Stockhausen’s lectures, which were critical in the development of his compositional thinking. His compositions have been performed, recorded and broadcast in Europe, North America and Asia by groups such as the Nash Ensemble, Australian String Quartet, Ensemble Offspring, Kammer Ensemble and Psappha Ensemble. Recent works performed by musicians and guest artists of Hong Kong Sinfonietta include 3 Studies of the Human Body for Violin & Timpani, Homage to Bach for Solo Violin, Ave Maria, “For the Five Fingers” from Four Studies for a Portrait of Roger Smalley etc. His music is represented by the Australian Music Centre.
