James Dargan is a polymath creative artist, athlete, polyglot, musician and writer, raised in the Deep South and–after a childhood spent at the Duke University String School and NC School of the Arts–educated in New and Old England.
While at Boston University, James studied violin with Nicholas Kitchen (the first violinist of the acclaimed Borromeo Quartet, still in residence at NEC), and completed bachelor’s degrees in Literature, Religion, and Musicology, all the while singing and acting in various choirs and stage productions, fencing, and writing his thesis under the aegis of his advisor, the late poet Geoffrey Hill.
While in the UK, James studied English Literature in the graduate programme at Leeds University, continued to play the violin, and began to find his voice as a singer, working as a Lay Clerk in the Choir of the renowned York Minster.
After York, James returned to Boston, where he’s sung with groups as diverse as The Choir of the Church of The Advent, Boston Baroque, and Lowell House Opera, continued to play and teach violin, and added composition and outreach work to his portfolio. He also studied voice with Dr. Lynn Eustis, Neil Semer, and Peter Harvey, and recently attended the prestigious Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto, on a full scholarship.
James has just moved to New York, where he sings in the professional choir of Marble Collegiate Church, freelances around Manhattan, and continues to pursue social justice through the arts.
