James Burton is an English choral conductor, arranger, and composer. He began his music career as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, where he became head chorister in 1987, and he also took piano lessons. After graduating from St. John's College, Cambridge University, he completed his master's degree, studying orchestral conducting with Frederik Prausnitz and Gustav Meier at the Peabody Conservatory. Burton established himself as a choral conductor, leading the Hallé Choir from 2002 to 2009, and founding the Hallé Youth Choir in 2003. He became the director of the Schola Cantorum of Oxford and took them on tour around the world. Burton has also been connected to the St. Endellion Music Festivals in Cornwall, where he became music director of the Easter Festival in 2007. He has conducted many orchestras, including the Royal London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Orchestra of the Scottish Opera, and the Hallé. In opera, Burton has conducted performances at the English National Opera, and the English Touring Opera, as well as working at the Metropolitan Opera, Opera de Paris, and the Garsington Opera. ~ Blair Sanderson, Rovi