THE monthly Coffee Concerts held at Bradford Cathedral return on Tuesday, January 14, when baritone singer James Gaughan performs a programme of music at 11am. Entry is free and refreshments are available from 10.30am.

James is an experienced soloist specialising in the song and concert repertoire. Based in York, he studies at the De Costa Academy of Singing with Michael De Costa. James gives lunchtime recitals throughout the year. He also performs regularly as a soloist with choirs and choral societies.

Past performances include: Elijah (Mendelssohn); Stabat Mater (Astorga); Cantata 140 (Bach); Ein Deutsches Requiem (Brahms); Requiem (Fauré); Israel in Egypt (Handel); Paukenmesse (Haydn) and Messiah (Handel).

James said: “The programme I’ve prepared is based around the poets, rather than around the composers. I think it’s become quite normal these days to have the historical concerts, where you go from composer to composer and knit them closely together. What I’ve tried to do with this set-up is to place little sets from different periods of poetry, which means I can have quite a varied set of three songs which could theoretically be from three different centuries which gives a lot of variety for the audience, but still have some coherent link to it.”

The monthly Coffee Concert programme continue with saxophonist Rob Burton in February, pianist Jill Crossland in March and Violin and Piano duo James and Alex Woodrow in April.