James Hewitt
James Hewitt read music at Cambridge, and continued his studies at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague: baroque violin (Pavlo Beznosiuk) and composition (Martijn Padding, Cornelis de Bondt and Guus Janssen), completing his masters with research in improvised counterpoint. He is a core member of Estehaagse Ensemble, specialising in baroque chamber music, Yiddish baroque ensemble Simkchat Hanefesh, and The Scroll Ensemble, inspired by improvisatory practices throughout the ages.
As composer, his oeuvre includes opera, choral, instrumental ensemble and solo works. His opera ‘Moses and Pharoah’ was premiered by the Cambridge University Opera Society, and his choral music has been performed by Ely Cathedral Choir among others. He has a special interest in exploring the possibilities of historical instruments and the attitude of flexibility.
He teaches historical improvisation at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague from 2018. In 2021, he was awarded the Gaël Liardon grant for improvisation research by Lausanne Festival (Didactic Duos as a Model for Improvisation) and presented at the Sweelinck Conference in Amsterdam (On Developing Improvisations Inspired by Sweelinck). In 2022, he presented at Early Music Pedagogy Then and Now, Brescia (Limitation and Transformation as Creative Process in Solo Improvisation).
