James Knapp,
Artistic & Managing Director

With more than 35 years of choral conducting experience leading university, church, and community choruses, James Knapp is in his ninth season at the helm of the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus. He is also the Artistic Director Emeritus of the Bayou City Performing Arts.

With a collective membership of over 200 voices, he guided the Gay Men’s Chorus of Houston, the Bayou City Women’s Chorus (founder), and the Bayou City Chorale (founder) for eight years. His choruses have appeared at Carnegie Hall, regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, and performed concert tours throughout Europe and Russia. They have performed with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, and the International Church Music Festival in Coventry, England, with Sir David Willcocks. James has taught choral workshops throughout the US, in Europe, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Singapore, and Thailand, and he served as Artistic Director of the Gay Games VII in Chicago in 2006.

On June 9, 2009, Houston mayor Bill White proclaimed “James Knapp Day,” and US Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) awarded James the Certificate of Congressional Recognition from the United States House of Representatives for artistic excellence to further the cause of social justice. Additionally, he was elected the Grand Marshall for the Houston Pride Parade in 2009 by the LGBTQ Community.

James is a graduate of Fredonia State University, the Mozarteum Conservatory in Salzburg, and the University of Texas at Austin.