James Higgs is a DMA student in choral conducting at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music studying with Dr. Elizabeth Schauer. Currently James is pianist and organist at Abounding Grace Lutheran Church in Tucson. As both soloist and collaborative pianist, James has performed throughout Southern California and in Austria, Italy, Poland, and the Czech Republic. James was awarded the John Bloom Choral Scholarship at the University of Arizona and in the past received scholarships to attend Songfest at the Colburn School and Brevard Music Festival as a collaborative pianist where he performed in art song recitals, concerto competitions, and master classes for Martin Katz, Margo Garrett, and Graham Johnson. 

An advocate for new vocal works, James has also performed in master classes of composers Jake Heggie, Ben Moore, and Richard Pearson Thomas. As a soloist, James has appeared in master classes of Sergei Babayan and Daniel Shapiro. Originally from the East Bay in Northern California, James moved to Southern California to attend Chapman University’s Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music where he received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and then a Master of Music in Keyboard Collaborative Arts from University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music where he studied art song, chamber music, and opera with Dr. Alan Smith. Past teachers include Dr. Ruby Cheng-Goya, Frank Wiens, and Dr. Hye-Young Kim.