James Ledger is an Australian composer who began writing music for theatre and television in England during the mid-1990s. His orchestral work from this period Indian Pacific, is regularly performed around Australia. He has since received numerous orchestral commissions including the Sydney Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

From 2003 to 2004 Ledger was the composer attached to the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, a result of this was Peeling, conducted by Hannu Lintu, who took it in further performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2007. From 2007 to 2009, Ledger was composer-in-residence with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. His Trumpet Concerto was premiered in 2007 by the orchestra’s principal trumpet player, David Elton under Sachio Fujioka. The orchestra has since gone on to perform Arcs and Planes and Chronicles, both under their chief conductor, Paul Daniel.

In 2008, Ledger was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to travel to Europe to research contemporary compositional practice with a particular focus on new classical music in Estonia. Currently, he is a lecturer in composition at the University of Western Australia.

Recent premieres include Rashomon Confessions, a clarinet quintet for the Sydney Opera House and Neon for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Looking ahead sees a bassoon concerto for Matthew Wilkie and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and a large scale work for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in 2011.