Born in 1953, James Wood studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, later in Cambridge, and conducting and percussion at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
After four years as director of the Schola Cantorum of Oxford (1977-1981), he founded the New London Chamber Choir (1981), which was soon acclaimed throughout Europe for its groundbreaking performances and recordings of contemporary music. He led it for 26 years until leaving England and moving to Germany in 2007. Wood served as professor of percussion at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt (1982-1994), founder and director of the Centre for Microtonal Music in London and his ensemble, Critical Band (1990-1994).
Since the mid-1990s he has focused more on composition and conducting, working with ensembles such as musikFabrik, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble InterContemporain and Champ d'Action. As a choral conductor, he has worked with Europe's leading choirs, including RIAS Kammerchor, Netherlands Chamber Choir, Cappella Amsterdam, Latvian Radio Choir, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Collegium Vocale Gent, Rundfunkchor Berlin, MDR Rundfunkchor, SWR Vokalensemble, NDR Chor and Vocalconsort Berlin. He has also worked with composers such as Kurtág, Xenakis, Ligeti, Kagel, Harvey, Stockhausen and Reich.
The versatile composer became known both for his percussion works, his designs and construction of new instruments, and for his work with electronics. Twice he received commissions to compose for the London Proms. His first opera, Hildegard, was performed to great acclaim in England, Holland and Belgium in 2005-06. He recently completed his second opera, Gulliver, a chamber opera based on Gulliver's Travels.
As a musicologist, he worked from 2008-2011 to complete Gesualdo's Sacrae Cantiones Liber Secundus, reconstructing about one-third of Gesualdo's sacred music, which he recorded with the Vocalconsort Berlin for Harmonia Mundi in 2013 (released February 2013). In October 2013 James Wood and the Vocalconsort Berlin were awarded the ECHO-Klassik Prize (Choral Recording of the Year) for this work.