James Larter

Percussionist and multi-instrumentalist James Larter has always been obsessed with rhythm; whether it be the roaring sound of Brazilian Samba or the intricate palette of the Contemporary classical repertoire, music that makes people move is a passion. He is an in-demand session musician, soloist and composer and has played with a wide and eclectic variety of artists and producers from Sampha, Dave Okumu, KYGO, Berlioz, Gang of Youths and Tony Visconti to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, St Petersburg Ballet, English National Opera and the Philharmonia.

As a soloist, James performed Richard Rodney-Bennett’s Marimba Concerto live on BBC Radio 3 with the BBC Philharmonic under the baton of John Wilson, and in The Bloodless Giant at the Royal Festival Hall, helping to compose and arrange the percussion music and coach over 300 young musicians. In 2024 he performed as a drum machine soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra for Nonclassical at 20. James’ solo album Polarity was released in 2021, and he is set to release an ambient album and animation, Elysium, in late 2025. His works for solo and duo percussion are published by Bachovich Publications, including a recent commission by City Music Foundation, De Motu Cordis. He has been commissioned by Sinfonia Smith Square to write a percussion concerto, entitled Toros.

He graduated with a First Class Honours from the Royal Academy of Music in London studying with Andy Barclay, Bill Lockhart, Eric Sammut and Colin Currie, where he won awards including the Peter Morrison Concerto prize and the RCM Percussion Prize, the Yamaha European Scholarship, the Royal Over-Seas League Sussex Award and the Norman Butler English Speaking Union scholarship. He then finished his Master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City under the tutelage of Christopher Lamb, Kyle Zerna, She-e Wu and Duncan Patton, where he won the James Peterscak Scholarship, an award from the Steven and Elaine Stamas New York Philharmonic Scholarship fund and the MSM Concerto Competition, through which he performed Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto at the Riverside Church in NYC in February 2018. He was also a fellow at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and was also selected as a 2021 City Music Foundation Artist.