ARTISTIC DIRECTOR and CONDUCTOR
A New Jersey native, Jim Douglas enjoys an active career as a church musician, conductor, keyboardist, composer, arranger and teacher. He was recently appointed Artistic Director and Conductor of the Renaissance Singers of Annapolis, an auditioned choral ensemble that specializes in the performance of a cappella early music. He also serves as Director of Music at historic St. Margaret’s Church and Day School (Episcopal), Annapolis, MD, where he is parish organist and oversees a vibrant and growing music ministry of numerous choirs and ensembles, along with an annual series of special services, workshops, and concert offerings.
Jim received his initial musical training as a treble chorister and later head chorister in the renowned Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys in New York City, where he attended Saint Thomas Choir School, the only residential boarding school for choristers in North America. There he sang over 400 choral works annually for five weekly liturgies, numerous concerts, recordings and tours, and performed with the likes of Jessye Norman and Carly Simon. At Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ, he studied sacred music, conducting, organ and voice and was was a soloist in several of the school’s renowned choirs, including the Westminster Choir, Westminster Symphonic Choir and the Grammy-nominated Williamson Voices. As a professional Jim has performed, recorded and toured with such ensembles as the Saint Thomas Choir, The Choir of Trinity Church Wall Street, Columbia University’s Vox Vocal Ensemble, Kinnara Ensemble, Westminster Choir, Dresden Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the American Classical Orchestra, among other ensembles. He has performed under the baton of such conductors as Robert Spano, Lorin Maazel, Bernard Labadie, Harry Bicket, Joseph Flummerfelt, Andrew Megill, James Jordan, Joe Miller, Dale Warland, Stephen Paulus, Anton Armstrong, Gerre Hancock, John Scott, Daniel Hyde, George Guest, Timothy Brown and Ralph Allwood, among others. He has also performed for television and radio broadcasts in the US and UK and in American premieres of choral works by Sir John Tavener and Tarik O’Regan. Jim is an active member of the Royal School of Church Music in America, having served on the music faculty of the King’s College Wilkes-Barre Summer Choral Course since 2010, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and the American Guild of Organists, currently serving as Co-Dean of the Annapolis Chapter. He has also served on the Bishop’s Advisory Commission on Music for the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey and the Saint Thomas Choir School Alumni Board of Directors, co-chairing the Development Committee. |