James Harp is well known in the Baltimore area as a stage director, pianist, organist, singer, composer, lecturer, writer and conductor. He began his musical career at age 7 as a church soloist, and has concertized in Italy, France, Greece, Israel, the Bahamas, and extensively throughout his native Southern United States. Among his more unusual musical experiences include singing "My Old Kentucky Home" as a soloist on National Television at the 1981 Kentucky Derby, coaching Lily Tomlin in arias from AIDA for an Emmy-nominated "Homicide" segment, and nearly drowning after falling backwards into the Sea of Galilee while conducting madrigals.

     He holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. He has been the Artistic Administrator of the Baltimore Opera Company since 1989 and has been the Chorus Master since 1993. Since 1983 he has served as organist for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and since 1987 has been the Cantor (Organist/Choirmaster) for Baltimore's historic St. Mark's Lutheran Church, where he also serves as Artistic Director of the St. Cecilia Society Concert Series.

     His stage direction credits include such well known operas as MADAMA BUTTERFLY, DON GIOVANNI, COSI FAN TUTTE, and CARMEN, as well as less well-known American works: BUXOM JOAN (Raynor Taylor); SLOW DUSK (Carlisle Floyd); BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Vittorio Giannini); THE VILLAGE SINGER (Steven Paulus); TOO MANY SOPRANOS (Edwin Penhorwood); THE MUSIC SHOP (Richard Wargo). As a solo singer he has performed with Baltimore Opera Company, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Summer Opera Theatre of DC, Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, and the Contemporary Music Forum of Washington, DC. He has appeared with the Young Vic in three productions: RUDDIGORE (Sir Despard Murgatroyd); THE GONDOLIERS (Don Alhambra); and IOLANTHE (Earl Mountararat).

     Knowledgeable in many areas of music, he has lectured extensively on opera in many venues, including the Towson Arts Festival, the Maryland Opera Society, the Biblical Archaeology Society, The Baltimore Opera Perspectives Series, and the Joy of Opera Series. He is on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Continuing Education where he lectures on the repertory of the Baltimore Opera. Successful as a writer of operatic children's programs, he and his work PUPPETS & PAGLIACCI were featured on a PBS documentary. His reworking of Puccini's GIANNI SCHICCI, changed from Florence, Italy in 1299 to Florence, Alabama, in 1929 and retitled THE TALE OF JOHNNIE S. KICKEY, has been well received and performed in several regional opera companies and universities. He has served on several national advisory boards as a consultant and advocate for arts agencies.

     Sought after as an orchestral musician and accompanist, he has been featured as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in works ranging from Saint-Saens ORGAN SYMPHONY to Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. He has appeared as continuo (harpsichord/organ) soloist with many local orchestral and choral groups, where his informed and histrionic realizations of baroque figured bass have won acclaim. Accompanist to many local singers, many of whom feature his own compositions, he has also accompanied such artists as Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes, Licia Albanese, Anna Moffo, Chris Merritt, Lucine Amara, and Paul Plishka.

     An aficionado of gardening, theology, genealogy and all things Victorian, he lives in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore with his three gregarious pugs, Vivian, Jewell, and Woodrow.