About
Lauded by the Boston Musical Intelligencer as a “truly fine musician” who “knows how to let the music’s beauty stand out and speak for itself and she executes it superbly,” Lynelle James has performed at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall in New York City, and in concert halls across the United States, Italy, Canada, New Zealand and the Caribbean.
Her debut album for solo piano, released May 2017, met with critical acclaim and was chosen for the American Record Guide’s Critics' Choice List 2017 by Alan Becker, who praises James for “emotionally and spiritually gut wrenching” and “stirring and technically immaculate” playing, likening her to ‘a young Martha Argerich.’ The CD features Beethoven, Schumann, Scriabin and Roslavets. It is available on iTunes and Spotify.
As both soloist and collaborative pianist, James performs regularly at Sevenars Concerts in Massachusetts and is active in nearby festivals including Manchester Music Festival, where she gave the world premier of Stephen Dankner’s Piano Quintet in 2015. Other notable recent collaborations include Mozart concerto performances with the World Youth Alliance orchestra in New York City and joining the Piazzolla Trio in 2018 for an international tour as part of a project to expand music education and bring instruments to students in the Caribbean. Her solo recitals have recently gained critical acclaim in New York, Massachusetts, Utah and Florida, and her program “Imagery in 20th Century Music” was awarded by the Steinway Piano Series at the University of South Florida in 2014.
Daughter of New Zealand pianist David James and New York pianist Robelyn Schrade-James, Lynelle James grew up in a family of professional pianists in New York City. They were the first family to be named on the Steinway Artist Roster. She began performing publicly at age 5 as a student of her grandparents Rolande and Robert Schrade, and appeared with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in New Zealand when she was 10. An early performance at Lincoln Center led Bernard Holland of the N.Y. Times to praise her for “real tenderness” and “the extroversion of a committed performer.” When she was 8 she began studying as a full scholarship student at the Manhattan School of Music precollege division, where she was a regular winner of scholarship and competition awards.
Dr. James received her Doctor of Musical Arts in 2012 from the University of Michigan, studying under noted pianist Arthur Greene and presenting a dissertation on the life and music of the politically repressed composer of the Russian avant-garde, Nikolai Roslavets. She has adjudicated competitions, given master classes and recitals at colleges and universities across the United States.