James Letham
JAMES LETHAM MUSICAL DIRECTOR ABBEY CONSORT.After completion of his studies in Glasgow in piano, voice, and French horn at the RSAMD and Jordanhill College of
Education, James was appointed teacher of music at Galashiels Academy in 1976. Based in Melrose, he soon became involved with Melrose AOS as pianist, then MD. In 1981 he was appointed as Principal Teacher of Music at Jedburgh
Grammar School, where he remained until 1998, at which point he took up the post of Head of Music at Hawick High School, retiring in 2016 to take up the post of Subject Implementation Officer with the SQA. In addition to ongoing Appointee work with the SQA, he enjoys one day's piano teaching in St. George's School, Edinburgh.
Composition, initially for the choir of Melrose Parish Church, began to play an increasingly important part in his musical life and many of the school's concerts featured compositions and arrangements by him. In addition to choral writing subsequent compositions have ranged from instrumental duos to two large -scale sweets for orchestra. Involvement with Borders music-making has been and continues to be a very important facet of James' musical life. As pianist in the musical partnership "Agapanthus duo", with violinist Andrew Sherwood, the violin sonatas with Hawick- born composer,
Sir John Blackwood McEwen are proving to be a challenging, but enjoyable, musical adventure.
Taking over the directorship of Abbey Consort from Colin Fox (2015) was a great honour for James, and under his direction the choir has continued to build on its excellent reputation. Whilst now forgetting music of the Classical and Baroque periods he has guided the singer through previously uncharted waters. This has included music by Montiverdi, Lotti, Rossini, Bruckner, Vaughan Williams, Rutter, Chilcott, Bonsor, Barbour, Bernstein, Ramirez and Mac Millan as well as some of his own compositions.
What little spare time he has is taken up with practising/composing, photography-and the occasional visit to a cafe!
