James McIntyre is a Scottish tenor from Dumbarton and a recent graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he studied under the tutelage of Scott Johnson for a Masters in Vocal Studies and previously received a First Class Honours Degree. He is currently continuing his studies privately, working closely with renowned tenor Anthony Roden and performing widely across the UK in both opera and concert settings.

 

During his studies, James had multiple competition successes, winning the Elgar Spedding Memorial Lieder Prize and the Hugh S Roberton Prize for Scottish Singing (including the William Alan Prize) as well as coming runner-up in the Governors Recital Prize, the A Ramsay Calder Debussy Prize, the Norma Grieg French Song Prize and the Leonie Kayser Prize.

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Regularly performing with his home company Scottish Opera, in 2025, he was part of the chorus for their tours of The Merry Widow and Trial by Jury, which went to Opera Holland Park in London as well as across Scotland. This season, he returns to cover the roles of Torquemada in L'heure espagnole and Hokusai's Grandson in the world premiere of Dai Fujikura's The Great Wave, as well as singing in the chorus for The Great Wave, Tristan und Isolde, and The Marriage of Figaro.

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James was an Edinburgh International Festival Rising Star of voice in 2025 which saw him feature as a soloist in the Festival closing concert of Mendelssohn's Elijah with the RSNO under Thomas Sondergaard.

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Other recent work includes joining the National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company for their 2025 productions of The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe and Princess Ida directed by John Savournin and Jeff Clarke respectively. He also joined the Chorus of Grange Park Opera for their 2024 summer season of Aleko, Daughter of the Regiment, Katya Kabanova and Island of Dreams, and made his role debut as Gabriel von Eisenstein in Fife Opera's production of Die Fledermaus. 

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Previously James was a Young Artist at Waterperry Opera Festival where he took part in their main stage production of Carmen, Gala performances, and various masterclasses and coachings with experts from across the UK opera scene.

 

A keen recitalist, James regularly performs with classical guitarist Ross Morris as a Live Music Now Scotland Artist and across the Lieder and song repertoire. He has a particular interest in promoting the performance of the underappreciated Scottish Art Song repertoire including the music of Buxton Orr, Ronald Center, Francis George Scott and Ronald Stevenson.

 

With the RCS Alexander Gibson Opera School, he sung the roles of Tapioca in Chabrier’s L’étoile and Tritone in Gavin Bryars’ Marilyn Forever. He toured in Scottish Opera’s Amadeus and the Bard in 2019 where he created multiple roles and was also a member of the Scottish Opera Young Company, performing as The Leader in Kurt Weill’s The Tsar has his photograph taken.

 

On the concert stage, his recently performed repertoire includes Haydn's The Creation, Stainer’s The Crucifixion, Mozart Requiem, and the Scottish premiere of Philip Wilby’s An English Passion.

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His studies were generously supported by the Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarships Trust, the RCS Trust, the McGlashan Trust, a Tillett Trust Postgraduate Bursary, and the Dick Maidment and Peggy Cooper Award from Help Musicians.

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Outside of music, James enjoys watching figure skating, baking, and collecting stationary.

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