James graduated from the QLD Conservatorium of Music in 2020 with a Bachelor of Music in Performance majoring in violin. In 2021 he completed a Graduate Certificate (Performance) under the tutelage of Natsuko Yoshimoto, Concertmaster of QSO.

James holds his LMusA and AMusA diplomas in the study of violin performance and has participated in Musica Viva masterclasses with Sophie Rowell, Corey Cerovsek, the Australian String Quartet, and the Emmerson String Quartet. He has performed with Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, the Australian Youth Orchestra, as an intern with Ensemble Q, as a guest young artist in the Brisbane Music Festival and as Associate Concertmaster of the QLD Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra.

James is passionate about chamber music and in 2020 received a scholarship to study with the New Zealand String Quartet at the Adam Summer School. He has performed internationally in France, Greece, Italy, and New Zealand and as a singer, he has performed in the Vatican, at the Arc de Triomphe and for the Anzac Day Centenary Commemorations in Villers Bretonneux, France. James currently plays on a modern violin crafted in 2012 by New York based luthier Jason Viseltear.