James Black was born in 1990 in Torquay, England, where his parents were attending a business conference. He grew up in Bristol, where he played saxophone and clarinet in local bands and ensembles. He was a member of the National Youth Wind Orchestra, playing bass and E-flat clarinets, and achieved a DipABRSM qualification in saxophone performance from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.
At 18, James started his studies in music at Oxford University. He initially intended to specialise in saxophone performance, taking at the Royal College of Music in London alongside his studies at Oxford. However, he changed to composition towards the end of his Bachelors, and decided to remain at Oxford for another year to pursue composition further, under the tutelage of Robert Saxton. After a year in London working at St Paul’s Boys’ School, he moved to Copenhagen to study for a masters at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. On completion, he was accepted into the Soloist Class programme, and currently plans to take his debut in 2018. At the academy he has studied with Hans Abrahamsen, Bent Sørensen, Jeppe Just Christensen and Niels Rosing-Schow, as well as electroacoustic music with Hans Peter Stubbe Teglbjærg. His music has been played worldwide in places such as Iceland, China, the US, Italy, Poland, as well as the UK and Denmark.