MusicaBellaLuna.com

Photo © 2015 by Danielle Klebanow

 

James Buonemani began his musical career at the age of thirteen when he was appointed Assistant Organist to then-Director of Music, William Ferris, at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester, New York. His early aptitude for composition was recognized with first prize in Baylor University’s National Composition Competition at the age of fifteen. Since then, his sacred music compositions have received widespread performances across the United States and Europe. His setting of the Preces and Responses, published by Paraclete Music, has become a staple of the Anglican Communion’s evensong repertoire. The majority of his musical works are published at MusicaBellaLuna.com and have been broadcast on BBC’s Radio 3 and NPR.

 

Buonemani’s compositions have garnered widespread critical acclaim. The American Record Guide praised Vis Aeternitatis, highlighting Buonemani’s “beautifully evocative setting” as a “welcome discovery.” In a review of his works on the album “O Beauty Ever Ancient Ever New” (Gothic Records), the Association of Anglican Musicians Journal noted “His works stand up nicely to those of other contemporary composers: Esenvalds, Gjello, and Miskinis; Buonemani’s writing goes right along with these titans of 21st-century composition.” Of the same album, the American Record Guide writes “The title work, O Beauty Ever Ancient Ever New, fuses ancient and contemporary motifs. It is richly orchestrated… a bit like Duruflé but has its own seductive personality.” And commenting on this same piece, composer David Charles Walker writes “The big delight of the afternoon was the premiere of Buonemani's new work for choir and orchestra, O Beauty Ever Ancient Ever New. This is a major, major addition to the choral repertoire. I'll run out of superlatives if I even start… take note, musical world: there is an important new composer in our midst. This piece is just so lush, gorgeous, moving (I wept). If you weren't there today, you missed out on something extraordinary.” O Beauty Ever Ancient Ever New will receive its European premiere at the Zêzere Arts Festival in Tomár, Portugal, in July 2025 under the direction of Maestro Bryan MacKay.

 

Mr. Buonemani graduated with highest distinction from both the Eastman School of Music and the Westminster Choir College, and also studied in England at the Royal School of Church Music. In 1977, he was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda, the American collegiate honor society for musicians, and in 1978 was awarded the coveted Performer’s Certificate from Eastman as an organ student of David Craighead.

 

Mr. Buonemani has performed as a solo organist or conductor in such renowned American venues as the New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Bartholomew’s Church Park Avenue, and the Church of St. Paul the Apostle at Lincoln Center; San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral; in Los Angeles at The Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels, First Congregational Church, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall; and in Honolulu at  Central Union Church. In England, his performance venues have included Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral (Oxford), Wells Cathedral, and St. George’s Chapel (Windsor). In Ireland, he has performed at Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral (Cork), the Collegiate Church of Saint Nicholas (Galway), Christ Church Cathedral (Dublin), and the Church of the Assumption (Tullamore). He has also performed in Mexico City’s Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and on Mexican National Television.

 

Notably, he collaborated with Los Angeles composer Morten Lauridsen in writing the organ arrangement of Lauridsen’s acclaimed composition Lux Aeterna. He performed the world premiere of this version with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in April 1997 and helped inaugurate the Walt Disney Concert Hall Organ with a performance of the work in 2004. Buonemani is also featured in the premiere recording of this version of the work on a 1998 CD release with the Donald Brinegar Singers.

 

He has participated in regional and national conventions of the AGO, the American Choral Directors Association, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and the Organ Historical Society. Additionally, he has guest conducted the William Ferris Chorale of Chicago and the Chicago Choral Artists on several occasions.

 

Since 1995, James Buonemani has served as Organist and Director of Music at St. James in-the-City Church in Los Angeles, California. Entering its 30th season in the fall of 2025, St. James’ International Laureates Organ Series was established by Buonemani in collaboration with the Ahmanson Foundation to provide the Los Angeles community the opportunity to attend monthly free recitals featuring world-class artists on the church’s magnificent pipe organ.

 

Under his leadership, the acclaimed Choir of Saint James has completed four tours of the United Kingdom. In 1996, the choir was the first American choir to sing in performance with the Choir of Westminster Abbey under the direction of Martin Neary. The following year, the choir performed the music for the official Los Angeles memorial service to Princess Diana. In July 2004, the choir was featured at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists. On November 22, 2013, the choir performed the music of Benjamin Britten in a 100th Birthday concert guest conducted by Maestro James Conlon of the Los Angeles Opera. Throughout Buonemani’s tenure, the Choir of Saint James has performed many of the great choral masterpieces with full orchestra, including the Requiems of Maurice Duruflé, Gabriel Fauré, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi, the Chichester Psalms by Bernstein, Lux Aeterna by Morten Lauridsen, and many others. His 2015 performance with the Choir of Saint James of Thomas Tallis’ 40-part motet Spem in Alium was one of the first performances of this iconic work in Los Angeles. The choir has recorded several CDs, most notably “O Beauty Ever Ancient Ever New” on the Gothic label released to critical acclaim in 2018.

 

From 1987 to 1994, Buonemani served as Organist and Director of Music for the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C., where he spearheaded the development of the church’s weekly Tuesday Afternoon Concert Series and launched the Epiphany Artists Series, which showcased full-length productions of drama, music, and dance. In 1992, he established and conducted “Musicians Against AIDS,” a fundraising event that brought together musicians from the National Symphony and esteemed musical figures such as baritone John Shirley-Quirk and the American Boychoir.

 

In June 2015, Buonemani conducted a choir comprising over 200 voices in Walt Disney Concert Hall to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Episcopal ministry in Southern California. During the ceremony, the Right Reverend Jon J. Bruno, Bishop Diocesan of Los Angeles, bestowed upon him the honorary title of Canon of the Cathedral Center of St. Paul, recognizing his exceptional contributions to the musical and liturgical life of the Episcopal Church.

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