Steven James is a pianist, improviser, composer, and educator from Eugene, Oregon, where he pursues a wide variety of musical activities, both locally and abroad. As a pianist, he specializes in performing contemporary music with organizations like Cascadia Composers, Impulse Ensemble and the OBF Composer’s Symposium, as well as presenting his own projects, such as Oregon Soundscapes, which was commissioned by the University of Oregon piano department in 2024. His composition style marries enthusiastic adventure to the depth of the internal human experience, creating narratives and dramatic effects to explore the connection between deep emotions and natural landscapes.

Steven’s dual careers as composer and performer have taken him all over the United States, including presentations of piano concerts in Oregon and California, and performances of original music from organizations and ensembles like the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, Cascadia Composers, the Bridge Collective, and the SonoKlect Series in Lexington, VA. He has also regularly played sacred music as a staff accompanist for multiple churches, including the St. Helen Catholic Church in Junction City, Oregon.

Steven graduated from the University of Oregon in 2024 with a Master’s degree in Piano Performance, where his piano teachers included Alexandre Dossin and David Riley, as well as studying composition and orchestration with David Crumb. Starting in fall 2025, Steven will continue his graduate studies in composition under the tutelage of Kevin Puts at the Peabody Institute. When not pursuing music, Steven enjoys exploring nature, reading poetry and sci-fi/fantasy novels, and running a homebrew D&D campaign. All three of these hobbies provide further inspiration for his musical ideas.