James Pinhorn moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1985 and completed a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of Toronto.  During a year of Special Studies in Elementary Education and Choral Conducting at the University, James served as the Assistant Conductor of the Concert Choir conducted by Doctor Doreen Rao.  During that season he was invited by Dr. Rao to conduct the choir in a performance of ‘Sharon Fragments’ at a gala concert honouring Canadian composer John Beckwith.  That same year James was invited by Robert Cooper to conduct the back-stage chorus in three performances of Ravel’s ballet ‘Daphnis et Chloe’ for the National Ballet of Canada.  He served as conductor of the University Chorus at the University of Toronto for two years before accepting the position of conductor of the University Women’s Chorus, a post he held for 6 years.  James was also a Tenor/Bass voices vocal coach for the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir and was the guest chorus conductor for Robert Cooper in two performances of the opera ‘Marina’ for the Opera in Concert Chorus. James has been invited many times over the years as a presenter at the Ontario Music Educators Association Conference, where he has given presentations on the state of music education in our public schools, on rehearsal techniques for young Tenor and Bass singers, and on issues of intellectual and artistic copyright in today’s music. James also had the honour of conducting the Massed Choir for 15 seasons at the Ontario Educational Leadership Centre in the Intermediate Arts Emerging Leadership Course for Grade Seven students and also served as a Course Administrator for this course for five years.

James is recently retired as Curriculum Leader of Music at Agincourt Collegiate Institute in the Toronto District School Board where he taught both Vocal Music and Computers and Music courses.  His auditioned choir at the school, the Agincourt Madrigal Singers was awarded the Leslie Bell Choral Award for the best choir at the Canadian Music Educators recorded competition, and won National Gold Awards for live performances at MusicFest Canada a total of nine times. Under his leadership Agincourt’s Choral ensembles were twice awarded the Ed Bolsby Trophy for the top High School Ensemble in the local Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, both in 2012 and in 2014.  In the Spring of 2014, The Agincourt Men’s Chorus also won the City Of Lincoln prize for Best TB Chorus at the National Kiwanis Festival in British Columbia.  In 2015, The Agincourt Madrigals Singers also won the Paul J. Bourret Prize for best SATB Chorus in The National Music Festival Association’s recorded competition, held in Edmonton, Alberta.

Under James’ baton, the Agincourt Choirs were featured in their own noon-hour concerts both at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, and for the Toronto Music Monday organization in 2016.   In April 2017, The Agincourt Madrigal Singers travelled to Banff, Alberta for the Rocky Mountain Music Festival, where they performed their very own showcase concert to a sold out and very appreciative audience. From 2017-2020 James took the post as conductor of the Bach Chamber Youth Choir in Toronto from their previous conductor Linda Beaupre, the choir is currently on hiatus.  In his very first season, the choir (also known as the BCYC) competed a ‘clean sweep’, winning first place in each Provincial category they entered in the recorded competition of the Canadian Music Festival Association, and also won first in each class they entered at the National level.  They were awarded the ‘Diane Loomer Choral Award’ for Best Overall Performance by a Choir in the festival.