James Ledger
Conductor
James Ledger works have been performed by orchestras, ensembles and soloists throughout Australia and internationally.
His first orchestral work, Indian Pacific (1996), inspired by the iconic train journey across Australia is regularly performed nationwide. He has held residencies with major symphony orchestras as well as the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, and the Australian National Academy of Music.
Ledger’s collaborations with singer-songwriter Paul Kelly – Conversations with Ghosts (2012) and Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds (2019) – weave classical forces with poetry, song and folk traditions. Both albums won ARIA Awards. He has been recognised with APRA Art Music Awards for the orchestral works Viola Concerto (2019), Golden Years (2011), and Chronicles (2009). In 2025 Ledger was the recipient of the Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize for The Last Thing – a song-cycle for soprano and orchestra.
He is Chair of Composition at the University of Western Australia and has been Artistic Director of the WASO Composition Project since 2009.