Millicent B James

Millicent B James is an award-winning composer, arranger and performer whose work combines gospel, jazz cinematic and Afro-futurism to create a myriad of sonorities. Her music has been commissioned by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sister Music, the Spitalfields Music Festival, the National Youth Choir and Genesis, The Sixteen. In 2023 Millicent also arranged three pieces for Radio 2’s Piano Room session, with Lemar and the BBC Concert Orchestra.

A multi-faceted artist, Millicent performs her compositions with her Birmingham-based band. She has been especially inspired by cultural anthropology, African mythology, and her own Jamaican heritage, notably on the EPs Moyo, Volume 1 (2020) and Moyo, Volume 2 (2021). In 2017 Millicent received a scholarship to study Composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, subsequently graduating with a First-Class Bachelor of Music with Honours Degree. In 2021 she was awarded the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Composition Prize. In 2024 Millicent will be starting her Master’s degree at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where she has received a full scholarship to study Composition.