James Jones has well established himself as a leading Organist and Choral Conductor of his generation. As recitalist, Jones has appeared with Arizona Musicfest, Kotzschmar Organ series, St. Paul Episcopal, Pittsburgh, PA “Rising Star” series, “Piccolo Spoleto” Festival in Charleston, SC, “Music for a Great Space” series Greensboro, NC, Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City) Organ Series, and on numerous occasions at Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, NC, where he served as Director of Music/Principal Organist from 2010 to 2021.
As organ soloist, he has been featured with Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Musicfest, Portland Symphony Orchestra (Maine), and the Winston-Salem Symphony.
During his decade of leadership at Myers Park UMC, the music program grew to 250+ participants. He led in the commissioning of over a dozen new works for chorus and/or instrumental ensemble, created a new all-music-ministry Christmas concert, and led worship at both Riverside Church in New York City and Duke Chapel in Durham, NC. The Chancel Choir enjoyed highly successful tours of England in May 2013; Salzburg and Vienna, Austria, and Prague, Czech Republic in May of 2015; and multiple cities in Scotland in the spring of 2019. This tour culminated with the honor of being featured on the St. Giles Cathedral (Edinburgh) Sunday Concert Series.
A native of Broadway, NC, Mr. Jones earned a Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and a Master of Music Degree from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. His teachers/mentors are Dr. Jack Michener and Dr. Daniel Hester in Organ; Dr. Welborn Young and Dr. Carole Ott in Choral Conducting. He studied for multiple summers with James Jordan at the University of Oxford’s (UK) Choral Conducting Summer Study program; other teachers have included internationally lauded conductors Donald Neuen and Anton Armstrong.
