James Wood (musician)

James Wood (born 27 May 1953 in Barton-on-Sea, England) is a British conductor, composer of contemporary classical music and former percussionist. Wood studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris from 1971 to 1972 before going on to study music at Cambridge University, where he was organ scholar of Sidney Sussex College from 1972 until 1975. After graduating from Cambridge he went on to study percussion and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, London, from 1975 until 1976. After a further year studying percussion privately with Nicholas Cole, Wood embarked on a triple career as percussionist, composer and conductor. Career In 1977 he was appointed conductor of the Schola Cantorum of Oxford, a post which he held until 1981, and immediately following this he founded the New London Chamber Choir, of which he was principal conductor for twenty-six years until moving to Germany in 2007. New London Chamber Choir (NLCC) During his time with NLCC he pioneered a large amount of little-known choral music from a wide range of composers, including Iannis Xenakis, Tona Scherchen, Toru Takemitsu, Eric Bergman, Harrison Birtwistle, Lili Boulanger, Ruth Crawford, Luigi Dallapiccola, Fra