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CAMPBELL
Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in
D major “The Atonement”
Born in 1967 in Hamilton, Ontario, James W. Campbell studied piano at the age of 14 and obtained his
Grade 8 at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Piano in a brief 3 years. While growing up, he also played
violin, clarinet and percussion. He then entered Trinity College at University of Toronto where he
majored in history, philosophy and English literature. An avid pianist, James has composed music for
solo organ, piano and harp, as well as a string quintet in classical style. Being a devout Christian, he also
composes songs in a contemporary style. His works have been performed by members of the Hong
Kong Philharmonic, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra and the Singapore
International School Choir. His music was performed at the Lee Hysan Concert Hall at the Chinese
University of Hong Kong and the Shenzhen Concert Hall in China. Apart from being a largely self-taught
composer, Mr. Campbell is a practicing barrister who has recently relocated to Ottawa, Canada where
he is admitted as a barrister/solicitor. His legal career commenced as a translator of the Chinese
language in 1995, translating the laws of China. He read law at the University of Hong Kong and City
University of Hong Kong from 1994-1996, and went on to practice law with the international law firm
Baker & McKenzie as a solicitor in their Hong Kong office. In 2005, Mr. Campbell completed pupilage
and crossed over to the other side of the legal profession and joined Parkside Chambers as a barristerat-law in 2005. From 2010-2012, Mr. Campbell served as an administrative judge for the Hong Kong
Government as Chairman of the Buildings Appeal Tribunal. Mr. Campbell is presently at work on a book
about the rule of law, and he completed a Master of Laws degree in June 2010 focusing on international
law. In his leisure time, he balances his life between law and music and finds that both practices
complement each other.
In July 2010, Mr. Campbell rented a small cottage on a hill in Hong Kong, away from the busy law office,
and started work on his Concerto for Harp and Orchestra. The first draft was ready in 10 days. The
concerto is named “the Atonement”, and is meant to be an abstract sound picture of the journey of the
human soul from fall to redemption, as outlined in the Christian scriptures. In the first movement
broadly based on classical sonata allegro form, features busy strings playing in rapid motion, one senses
a soul in flight, running from reality. The second movement, in the form of a theme with variations, is
suggestive of the quieting presence which the faith of Christianity offers, with the third movement in
simple rondo form – again typical of classical concertos – being a short song of rejoicing. The style and
harmony are not what would expect of a 21st Century work, with the typical complex tonality and
irregularity in form and rhythm. Rather, Mr. Campbell’s approach was to write in a classical style. Even
as history is cyclical, with nations rising and falling, he believes that music also passes through cycles of
style, and is not like an eternal road which never revisits styles of the past.