James Westman
Voice
Office: MB 317
Email: jwestma7@uwo.ca
Canadian baritone James Westman has performed in many of the world’s leading opera houses, recital venues and concert halls. Renowned for his versatility and artistic sensibility, he has earned the highest praise from audiences and critics alike across a wide range of musical styles—grand opera, oratorio, art song, baroque, chamber and modern classical music.
Over a career spanning more than four decades, Westman has sung over 100 operatic roles and more than 40 oratorio and symphonic works.
His signature role as Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata has been featured in over 200 performances with major worldwide companies including San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Bordeaux, Florida Grand Opera, Cologne Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, L.A. Opera, Vancouver Opera, Vienna State Opera, Graz Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Montreal and the English National Opera.
Westman has premiered numerous new operas including Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner, Kevin Puts’ Silent Night, André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Neil Weisensel’s Riel: Heart of the North, and the title role in Bramwell Tovey’s The Inventor.
Recent highlights include:
- Canadian premiere of Lt. Gordon in Silent Night (Kevin Puts) with Calgary Opera
- Handel’s Messiah and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the New York Philharmonic
- Scarpia in Tosca and title role in Nabucco with Québec Opera
- Mozart and Salieri (Rimsky-Korsakov), Carmina Burana, with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
- Mendelssohn's Elijah with Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver Symphony
- Brahms’ Requiem and Carmina Burana with the National Arts Centre Orchestra
- Sir John A. Macdonald in Harry Somers’ Louis Riel with the Canadian Opera Company and NAC
- Doctor in Vanessa by Barber at Wexford Opera
- Rigoletto with Montreal Opera, San Antonio Opera, Dallas Opera, Edmonton Opera and Barcelona Opera
A passionate advocate for art song, Mr. Westman enjoys the dynamic intimacy of recital performance. He has appeared in many of the world’s foremost recital halls including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Roy Thomson Hall, the Morgan Library, Koerner Hall, Matsumoto, Snape Maltings, the National Arts Centre, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Rudolfinum, Opéra Bastille, Kammermusiksaal, St. David’s Hall, Sheldonian Theatre, Herbst Theatre, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
He has collaborated with distinguished pianists such as Martin Katz, Malcolm Martineau, Warren Jones, John Churchwell, Graham Johnson, Craig Rutenberg, Simon Lepper, John Greer, Brian Zeger, Pierre Vallet, Jeewon Park, and William Aide. Many composers have written works specifically for Mr. Westman, including John Greer, John Hawkins, John Beckwith, Derek Holman, Srul Irving Glick, Bramwell Tovey, Larisa Kuzmenko, Gary Kulesha, Robert Aitken, André Previn and Scott Tresham.
A former successful boy treble, Mr. Westman was a member of the American Boychoir, the Paris Boys Choir and the Vienna Boys Choir. He was the first boy to perform and record the fourth movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 (A Child’s View of Heaven) and toured this work throughout Europe with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Benjamin Zander. At age 12, he had the opportunity to perform Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the legendary Leonard Bernstein.
Mr. Westman has won first place in every international competition he entered, including:
- Concert of the Nation, Mexico (1983)
- San Francisco Opera Merola Competition (1998)
- George London Competition (1997)
- D’Angelo Competition (1997)
- Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques (1996)
- Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation (1997, 1999)
- Marilyn Horne Foundation Award (1999)
- Only Canadian to ever be a finalist and audience favorite winner at the prestigious Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. (1999)
Mr. Westman’s discography includes recordings with Decca, BBC, CBC, Naxos, Opera Rara and CentreDisc. His work has earned four Juno Award nominations and two Grammy Award nominations. He has also been a host of This Is My Music on CBC Radio 2 and a contributor to Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.
In recent years, Mr. Westman has earned widespread acclaim for his work as a vocal mentor to emerging professional opera singers. He has collaborated with ensembles and led masterclasses and workshops for conservatory and university programs around the world. His teaching credits include the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of British Columbia, University of Ottawa, Carleton University, University of Manitoba, York University, University at Buffalo, Penn State, Michigan State University, University of Louisiana, San Francisco Conservatory, Beijing Conservatory, Stanford University, as well as training programs at Santa Fe Opera, Opera Nuova, Pittsburgh Opera, St. Louis Opera, Utah Opera, Calgary Opera, Ottawa Lyra and Montreal Opera.
Professor Westman’s students have been accepted into prestigious graduate and professional opera programs around the world.
Professor Westman is open to inquiries from students considering studying voice at Western.
