James
Christiansen

1931-2019

Baritone, director and conductor James Christiansen OAM was considered one of Australia’s 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 Australian State opera companies. His diversity as a performer is reflected in the many roles he made his own, Scrooge in 𝘈 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘭, Don Alfonso in 𝘊𝘰𝘴ì 𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦, Prus in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘦, La Roche in 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘤𝘪𝘰, Sharpless in 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘺, Scarpia in 𝘛𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘢, and the title role in 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧, 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.