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 is a key advocate for contemporary music and 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.

Recent and current highlights include Gabriella Smith’s organ concerto Breathing Forests (at the BBC Proms with BBCSO/Thomas Adès & with Helsinki Philharmonic/Pekka Kuusisto), a series of Bach (Art of Fugue, Italian Concerto & French Overture, and a JMV Ensemble concert on Moog Synthesisers) at the Concrete Concert Hall at London’s Bold Tendencies, Jonny Greenwood’s 8 hour organ piece ‘X Years of Reverb’ with Eliza McCarthy at Kilkenny Festival and Ruhrtriennale, Nico Muhly’s organ concerto Register (Danish National Symphony/Pekka Kuusisto) and solo recitals at Birmingham Town Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, National Concert Hall Dublin, Boston Symphony Hall, Lyon Auditorium and Bel Air Claviers Festival 2025.

McVinnie 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.

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. 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)

‘[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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