James Woodrow (musician)

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James Woodrow (born 1961) is an English guitarist who works in classical, contemporary classical and jazz music. He plays both classical and electric guitar, and also performs on mandolin, lute and bass.

He trained at the Royal Northern College of Music. After graduating, he became a leading guitarist in London. Since 1991 he has been a member of Icebreaker, and since 2006 he has been a joint Musical Director. With Icebreaker he has appeared at major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, and at the South Bank Centre, touring the UK, Europe and the USA.

In 1993 he joined the Gavin Bryars Ensemble and in 2001 he became a member of A Change of Light. He has worked with many ensembles, including London Sinfonietta, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Chamber Symphony and the New London Chamber Choir.

He has collaborated with contemporary composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, and has performed with Concerto Köln and the Basel Sinfonietta. He is a member of the Grand Necropolitan Quartet.

Woodrow has worked extensively with dance companies. He was with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1999 to 2011, and appears on their music CD. He has also worked with Richard Alston, Jo Kondo, Denis Gaultier and 17th‑century lute music, and with Shobana Jeyasingh, for whom Michael Nyman wrote a piece for guitar and electronics. He has performed with London Contemporary Dance, Rambert, Phoenix Dance Company, Random Dance, the Royal Ballet and the Scottish Ballet.

Opera North projects include tango music by Piazzolla, Nothing Like the Sun about Shakespeare’s sonnets with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Mercy and Grand (a Tom Waits‑based piece).

In jazz, he leads the CandyTime quartet, which has released two albums, and he plays classical guitar in his Kammermusik ensemble. He also gives solo recitals of both modern and early music.

On BBC Radio 3 he has played Tippett’s The Knot Garden, Stockhausen’s Gruppen, John Buller’s Proenca, Richard Dubugnon’s Double Piano Concerto for the Labeque sisters, and guitar interludes written for him by Howard Skempton.