After studying at the Royal Academy of Music James won a scholarship to the Moscow Conservatory during which time he performed all over the former Soviet Union. In 1990 he was a semi-finalist in the International Tchaikovsky Competition and in 1992 he won a National Federation of Music Societies Award and First Prize in the International Citta di Marsala Piano Competition in Sicily. He has given recitals throughout the United Kingdom and in many European countries and performed concertos with the English and Scottish Chamber Orchestras. In 1997 he opened the season at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory playing Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. His work with the Barbican Piano Trio has taken him to many prestigious concert series and festivals in the United Kingdom, USA, Sweden and Uzbekistan.

His discography includes recordings of piano trios by Lalo, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Schnittke with the Barbican Piano Trioand Appasionato, a recording of romantic pieces for violin and piano with Lydia Mordkovitch.

This season includes tours to Russia, Romania, Latvia, France, Belgium and Scotland as well as two appearances at the Wigmore Hall in London.