Dr. James K. Bass
Artistic Director Designate
James K. Bass, GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor and singer, was named Artistic Director Designate of Seraphic Fire in October 2025 and will begin as Artistic Director on June 1, 2026. He is Professor and Director of Choral Studies and Chair of the Department of Music Performance, Education, and Composition at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He also serves as Program Director of the Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival, Associate Conductor of Seraphic Fire, and Artistic Director of the Long Beach Camerata Singers.
Bass is an active soloist and ensemble artist. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in 2017 with Franz Welser-Möst and has appeared with the New World Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Back Bay Chorale, Firebird Chamber Orchestra, and The Sebastians. His vocal work includes performances with Seraphic Fire, Conspirare, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Trinity Wall Street, True Concord, and others. In 2020, he won the GRAMMY for Best Choral Performance as Chorusmaster and soloist for Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua. He has appeared on multiple acclaimed recordings, including Pablo Neruda: The Poet Sings, A Seraphic Fire Christmas, and releases on Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Albany, and Seraphic Fire Media.
Previously, as Artistic Director of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, he led world premieres and recordings with the Florida Orchestra. Bass co-founded Seraphic Fire’s Professional Choral Institute in 2011 and has prepared choirs for conductors such as Robert Shaw, Ton Koopman, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson-Thomas, and Patrick Quigley.
