James Hancock, Tenor

Selected recordings and career archive

Born in Melbourne, Australia, James Hancock trained as a tenor and worked in opera and concert repertoire in Australia, the UK and Europe.

This site brings together selected recordings, photographs, reviews and biographical material from his singing career.

James now works in arts administration and artist management, including through Hancock Artists and the Tait Memorial Trust.

Hancock Artists Tait Memorial Trust London Lyric Opera

Biography

James was born in Melbourne. A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, he was a Victoria State Opera Young Artist and was awarded the Opera Foundation Australia German Operatic Award, Dame Joan Sutherland Scholarship, Tait Memorial Trust Scholarship, Australian Opera Auditions Committee Scholarship, Australian Musical Foundation London grant, American Institute of Musical Studies Scholarship and a Bayreuth Bursary.

Companies he worked for include Victoria State Opera, Melbourne Opera, Opera Australia, Meistersingers Ltd, Pocket Opera Nürnberg at the Covent Garden and Bath Festival, Cambridge University Opera Society, UCL Opera, Longborough Festival Opera, Edinburgh Players Opera Group and Abbey Opera at St John’s Smith Square.

James’s concert and recital repertoire included Verdi’s Requiem, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium. Song repertoire included Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Butterworth and Vaughan Williams.

“The heroically ringing voice of James Hancock rang throughout the theatre.”
The Spectator, Michael Tanner

“The musical highlight of the evening came from James Hancock’s brilliant projection of Vaughan Williams’s Songs of Travel.”
Musical Opinion, Denby Richards

“Most striking of all was James Hancock, a living, believable character, with pleasing voice and committed delivery.”
Classical Source, Nick Breckenfield