James McVinnie

Through his boundless approach to music making, his collaborations with a vast array of artists from many different walks of musical life, his innovative programming and captivating musicianship of the highest order, James McVinnie has carved out a unique career as an organist and keyboard player.

McVinnie has had major concerto and solo works written for him by Sam Adams, David Chalmin, artist Martin Creed, Bryce Dessner, Hildur Guðnadóttir, David Lang, Tom Jenkinson/Squarepusher, Nico Muhly, Richard Reed Parry, Tristan Perich, Gabriella Smith amongst many others.

He directs the James McVinnie Ensemble, a collective of virtuoso keyboardists dedicated to exploring work often preoccupied with political themes by contemporary and emerging composers. The ensemble’s roots go back to 2017 with a performance at London’s Barbican Centre of
Music in Twelve Parts by Philip Glass—the only performance in the piece’s history given by anyone other than the Philip Glass Ensemble.

He is a member of Icelandic collective and record label Bedroom Community, on which he has released three albums: Cycles (2013, works by Nico Muhly), Cycles_1 (2016, a remix album) & Counterpoint (2021) which pairs music of J S Bach & Philip Glass. The Grid (2018) is a studio album of music by Philip Glass using organ samples on Orange Mountain Music. All Night Chroma featuring music by Tom Jenkinson/Squarepusher, recorded at the organ of the Royal Festival Hall in London was released on Warp Records in 2019.

McVinnie has just completed a year long residency at London’s Southbank Centre during which he gave three seperate solo performances on the Royal Festival Hall’s Organ — two as part of the RFH ‘Organ at 70’ celebrations (Buxtehude & Bach and Tristan Perich’s Infinity Gradient, an hour long work written for McVinnie for organ and 100 speakers in 1bit audio) — ‘Fantasias’ centring around Liszt’s Ad nos ad salutarem undam as well as a James McVinnie Ensemble programme of American Minimalism at RFH. His fifth and final residency concert — an all Bach programme for piano and organ in the Queen Elizabeth Hall — was postponed owing to illness and will be rescheduled in 2025/26 season.

Dreamcatcher, an album of contemporary American music by composers closely associated with McVinnie, who plays both organ & piano, has been released on Pentatone in January 2025. The recording features the organ of St Albans Cathedral—an epoch-making instrument closely associated with legendary organists Peter Hurford and Ralph Downes. The piano segments of the album were recorded at Studio Richter Mahr, co-founded by composer Max Richter and visual artist Yulia Mahr. Listen to the album here.

Five minutes that will make you love the organ — New York Times

Can James McVinnie change your mind about the pipe organ? — NPR

‘McVinnie's Dreamcatcher is a smartly curated album, where a thoughtful artist challenges us — with extraordinary results — to think of the pipe organ as an instrument of our time.’ (NPR)

‘Happily, James McVinnie is one of a visible new British breed, presenting programmes designed to show that an organist’s life can extend far beyond the repertoire classics and hiding behind stonework accompanying hymns.’ (The Times)

‘Dreamcatcher is a very stimulating album.' 
(**** The Times)

I’ve believed for quite some time that McVinnie is arguably the finest classical organist peforming today. [Dreamcatcher] makes the argument for him as an outstanding pianist as well and a wonderfully modern artist. (Cultural attaché)

‘[Dreamcatcher is] a calling card for James McVinnie. He’s an extraordinary player. He finds ways to develop a sense of what the organ can do by exploring very, very contemporary avant-garde repertoire, he’s a wonderful pianist as well and we hear both side by side on this disc together. It’s a wonderful array of the different sound worlds that can be created across two different
keyboard instruments.’ BBC Radio 3 Record Review

McVinnie’s performances were — musically, technically and in his careful colorations — immaculate.
(Los Angeles Times, 2017)

Voix Celestes by Tom Jenkinson at RFH

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