James Naumann is well adept as a pianist, organist, vocal coach, conductor, and musicologist. He has served as a pianist for a number of voice studios at Manhattan School of Music, where he is currently a staff pianist and recital coach. He has played for vocal competitions and masterclasses with such renowned artists as Marilyn Horne, Lucy Shelton, Lauren Flanigan, Diana Soviero, Martin Katz, Jeannette Sorrell, June Anderson, Susan Anthony, and Timothy Noble. Among the singers he has coached and performed with is Anthony Roth Costanzo, notably for his Grammy-nominated debut recording of George Frideric Handel and Philip Glass arias - Glass Handel - which had a multimedia world premiere in September of 2018 as part of Opera Philadelphia’s O18 Festival. He has coached numerous opera productions, including Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi; Gounod’s Faust; Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel; Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea; Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte; and Verdi’s La traviata. In addition, he has coached roles for productions of Beethoven’s Fidelio; Benjamin's Written on Skin; Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Albert Herring; Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess; Glass’s Akhnaten; Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice; Handel’s Giulio Cesare; Massenet’s Cendrillon; Puccini’s La Bohème; Rossini's La Cenerentola; Verdi’s Rigotello; and Weisman’s The Scarlet Ibis. His foreign language experience includes German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Czech.
In the classroom, James has taught courses as diverse as eighteenth-century music and the history of rock & roll. He has delivered award-winning, interdisciplinary papers ranging from the music of Robert Schumann to Paul Bowles and the works of Marcel Proust to Tennessee Williams.
In addition to degrees in piano and organ performance, he completed his Performance Studies certificate in collaborative piano at Manhattan School of Music and is a candidate for a PhD in musicology at The Ohio State University. His primary piano teachers include Lori Sims and Thomas Muraco.