James McCutcheon studied voice as part of the Applied Music course at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, where he specialised in Performance and Music Technology. Since leaving the course he has worked on music projects throughout the UK and in Europe and still managed to achieve a First Class BA (Hons) in Performance Industries from Wolverhampton University. Despite his travelling however, he has still remained based in Edinburgh.
His work has allowed him to enjoy many years arranging for a variety of shows and concerts with varying cast and band sizes. From his first professional show, “Hits Of The West End”, which was arranged for a large ensemble cast and a 10 piece band, to smaller cabaret type shows like the “Beyond Broadway” performances in The Boards to the Edinburgh Playhouse’s “Glee Experience” which had a cast of 200+ and a 12 piece band. Other exciting ventures include creating the arrangements and orchestrations for John Ward’s original musical “MacPherson’s Rant” in 2011 with Simon Hanson and the specially created concert, “Guys Sing Dolls” starring Anton Stephans and Tim Newman which involved a fantastic male cast singing songs iconically sung by woman.
Away from Edinburgh, James has worked with Jammy Productions on their cruise ship and touring performances in Colchester and on board the Tallink passenger ferries. For these shows he arranged and rehearsed the music as well as recording and producing the vocal and instrumental backing tracks. He also worked with the GALA Theatre Durham on the musical aspects of their in-house plays and three of their in-house pantomimes for which he was Associate MD and Saxophonist for the in-house band. The past five years have seen him in Shrewsbury working in the same capacity for the Evolution Productions Pantomime having finished a very successful run of "Dick Whittington" at the Theatre Severn last session, and looking forward to returning for their 2016/17 production of "Cinderella".
His work has allowed him to enjoy many years arranging for a variety of shows and concerts with varying cast and band sizes. From his first professional show, “Hits Of The West End”, which was arranged for a large ensemble cast and a 10 piece band, to smaller cabaret type shows like the “Beyond Broadway” performances in The Boards to the Edinburgh Playhouse’s “Glee Experience” which had a cast of 200+ and a 12 piece band. Other exciting ventures include creating the arrangements and orchestrations for John Ward’s original musical “MacPherson’s Rant” in 2011 with Simon Hanson and the specially created concert, “Guys Sing Dolls” starring Anton Stephans and Tim Newman which involved a fantastic male cast singing songs iconically sung by woman.
Away from Edinburgh, James has worked with Jammy Productions on their cruise ship and touring performances in Colchester and on board the Tallink passenger ferries. For these shows he arranged and rehearsed the music as well as recording and producing the vocal and instrumental backing tracks. He also worked with the GALA Theatre Durham on the musical aspects of their in-house plays and three of their in-house pantomimes for which he was Associate MD and Saxophonist for the in-house band. The past five years have seen him in Shrewsbury working in the same capacity for the Evolution Productions Pantomime having finished a very successful run of "Dick Whittington" at the Theatre Severn last session, and looking forward to returning for their 2016/17 production of "Cinderella".
One of James’ key roles on the majority of these projects, in addition to arranging and rehearsing the music, has been programming, mixing and mastering the backing tracks as well as recording vocals for click tracks, particularly on the pantomimes and large scale productions. This knowledge and expertise transferred seamlessly into producing vocal demos and show reels for individual performers to whom he can offer guidance on anything from vocal performance to microphone technique or song choice. In addition he also offers invaluable knowledge about what musical directors and casting agents are looking for in a showreel while utilising his years of sound recording experience to create a high quality product which any performer would be proud of.