James Golborn is a London-based ballet pianist, conductor, composer and arranger with a background spanning jazz, classical and musical theatre. As a ballet pianist, he plays regularly for company class at the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet. He is frequently invited to play as a guest pianist with touring companies, including San Francisco Ballet, Akram Khan Company, State Ballet of Georgia and New English Ballet Theatre. Alongside his company work, James plays for open classes at Pineapple Dance Studios, enjoying long-standing partnerships with teachers Anna Du Boisson OBE and Josephine Holling, amongst others.

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Away from the keyboard, James is the founding conductor and musical director of the Richmond Light Orchestra, a sixty-piece ensemble that unites amateur and professional musicians to perform music from stage and screen. Together with founder Chris Childs, James has guided the ensemble from its inception shortly after the COVID pandemic to a flourishing musical community that is now approaching its five-year anniversary. As musical director, James writes a significant number of the orchestra's arrangements himself, many of which are available for purchase through Hal Leonard (see arrangements). 

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As a composer, recent commissions include setting a selection of Ernest Hemingway poems for tenor and piano for performances at Théâtre de l'Athénée (Paris), Fundación Juan March (Madrid) and Fidelio Cafe (London), as well as a ballet miniature for solo piano – Pavane and Galliard – for London Vocational Ballet School’s annual showcase at Sadler’s Wells.

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James is a graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he completed a bachelor's degree in composition and a master's degree in jazz performance.