Equally at home in opera and musical theater, Grammy-nominated conductor James Lowe continues to garner praise for “beautifully sculpted” (Opera News) performances. Highlights of the 2024–2025 season include returns to The Atlanta Opera for Rent and La bohème and Lyric Opera of Kansas City for The Barber of Seville.
Last season, Jim made debuts at Lyric Opera of Kansas City for The Sound of Music, San Diego Opera for El Milagro del Recuerdo, Opera San Antonio for The Pirates of Penzance, and returned to Washington National Opera for Songbird.
In 2022–2023, he debuted with Teatro Lirico di Cagliari for West Side Story and The Atlanta Opera for Candide and returned to Arizona Opera for The Magic Flute and Lyric Opera of Chicago for West Side Story. He debuted with Arizona Opera for El Milagro del Recuerdo and returned to New York City Opera for the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and The Glimmerglass Festival for The Sound of Music.
Jim returned to The Glimmerglass Festival for Songbird, an adaptation of Offenbach's La Périchole which he arranged and orchestrated in the style of 1920s New Orleans jazz bands, Houston Grand Opera for La bohème, Lyric Opera of Chicago for West Side Story, Washington National Opera for Jeanine Tesori's The Lion, The Unicorn and Me, The Glimmerglass Festival for Show Boat , Utah Opera for The Little Prince, and Tulsa Opera for Madama Butterfly. Additionally, his arrangements can be heard on The Metropolitan Opera’s Three Divas Live in Concert that was recorded live at the Palace of Versailles. He made his European debut conducting Candide in Francesca Zambello's production at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and Opéra National de Bordeaux, and he recently conducted Turandot at Tulsa Opera. He has also appeared at San Francisco Opera and New York City Opera, as well as on Broadway.
Mr. Lowe has had a long relationship with Houston Grand Opera, where he has led Carmen, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Sweeney Todd, Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair (world premiere production), as well as the HGO Studio production of Copland’s The Tender Land. At HGO he also conducted the world premiere production of The Little Prince, and he led Jonathan Dove’s Flight at the Pittsburgh Opera Center. He has appeared at Utah Opera leading Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas and Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, and he conducted Mark Adamo’s Little Women at Lyric Opera Cleveland in a production directed by the composer. He has also led the Houston Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Wolf Trap Opera, and the American Composers Orchestra, as well as The Nutcracker with the Houston Ballet.
On Broadway, James Lowe was the Music Director and Conductor of the recent revival of Les Misérables, as well as the Tony Award-winning revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes, starring Sutton Foster and Joel Grey. He also served as the Music Supervisor for the First National Tour of this production. Mr. Lowe made his Broadway debut conducting performances of Gypsy, starring Patti LuPone.
Mr. Lowe was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on the Anything Goes cast album released on Ghostlight Records, which he conducted and co-produced. With members of the cast he has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, the CBS Early Show and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. He toured the United States as Music Director and Conductor of the acclaimed Cameron Mackintosh/National Theatre production of My Fair Lady, and conducted the First National Tour of Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza. He is currently the US Music Supervisor of the North American Tour of The Phantom of the Opera.
