"Un grand bravo! An authentic Latin representative of the French School of Flute" said Jean Pierre Rampal. Those fortunate enough to hear Brazilian flutist James Strauss immediately agree with the French Master appreciation; it´s an extraordinary display of erudite musicianship allied with an innate sense of communication through Art. Strauss is a musician with an equal flair for sweetness, elegance and whatever extremes possible inside the concept of dramatic intimacy all filtered through an honest and sincere skill to properly conceptualize a work. His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary Masters in addition to endeavors in Brazilian and South American folk that perfectly reflects the many facets of his abilities in solo, chamber or concerto performances. James Strauss is the first Brazilian flautist to ever be conceded a Diplomme de Concertiste by the École Normale de Musique de Paris. He was one of very few last disciples of Jean-Pierre Rampal. Strauss was laureate with a scholarship by the French government for the Conservatoire de Paris and for the École Normale de Musique Alfred Cort de Paris where he studied with Pierre-Yves Artaud, Alain Marion, Genevieve Martigny, Alain Menard, Maurice Pruvot, Lazlo Hadadi, Bernard Andrés and later masterclasses with Mstislav Rostropovich, Ransom Wilson, Michel Moragues, Michel Debost, and Lars Nilsson. Strauss has a special interest in new music and unconventional repertoire, which has led many composers to dedicate works to him including the world or local premières of works by Nicole Randall, João Linhares, Solfa Carlile, Sean Hickey, Ernani Aguiar, Armand Frydman, Glenn Roger Davis, Ricardo Tacuchian, Philip Czaplowski, Antonio Ribeiro, Dimitri Cervo, Julio Medaglia, Charles Chaynes, Sergio Igor Chnee, Jean Françaix, Thorkel Sigibjornsson, Kai Nieminen and many others. He gave the modern première on the piccolo of the fourth piccolo concerto by Antonio Vivaldi, discovered by the French musicologist Jean Cassignol. He is regularly featured in the international press, as guest on NPR's Performance Today, Bowed Radio, WGUC FM and Cultura FM and he were host and performer on the Musical TV show Musicas que elevam at the REDE MUNDIAL. The Falls House Press/Theodore Presser Company published James Strauss's discovery and reconstruction of the Concertstuck for flute by Tchaikovsky. Strauss has been guest soloist with orchestras including: Capriccioso Chamber Ensemble (Finland), Orchestre Symphonique de Creteil (France), Israeli Virtuosi (Israel), Orchestre Philharmonic de Sibiu (Romania), Oxford Chamber Orchestra (USA), Ensemble 3 Elephants (Japan), Orquestra Sinfonica do Recife, Orquestra Sinfonica de São José dos Campos, Bachiana Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Florianópolis, Orquestra de Camara UNISINOS, Orquestra de Camara do Theatro São Pedro, Filarmonica Vera Cruz, Orquestra Sinfonica do Teatro Nacional de Brasilia and many others. Respected for his inspiring teaching, Strauss has taught master classes and performed recitals for universities and flute societies, such Miami University (USA), Iceland Academy of Arts ( Iceland), Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris ( France),Accademia Janua Coeli - Genova ( Italy), Verões Musicais (Brazil), the Festival Eleazar de Carvalho Fortaleza CEARA (Brazil) - Londrina Music Festival (Brazil). As music critics say, “He has an astonishing tone color, beautifully rich and thick sound and he imparts a shimmering brilliance to his music...” This emotional and technically superb musician performs as a concert soloist all over the world, with his virtuoso flute. James Strauss is one of the most brilliant artists of his generation. Principal Flutist of the Filarmonica Vera Cruz since 2011, he enjoys a multi-faceted career as a leading soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, teacher, and clinician. Strauss recently has been interested in being performances with original instruments, and in 2012 he will release his first album playing and conducting concerts of Vivaldi played with a baroque orchestra and a traverso built in 1741. For the 2011-2012 season Mr. Strauss will be performing several premieres wrote for him by composers from the 5 continents ( Roger Davies – USA, Solfa Carlile-Ireland, Daisuke Soga – Japan, Martial Nardeau – Iceland, Alexander Arutunian – Armenia) in Paris, Sacramento, Amsterdan, London and Budapest, and the Concierto Pastoral by Joaquín Rodrigo with the Sinfonietta de Granada (Spain) and his first tour in Australia.