Canon Jim Buonemani, pictured at Walt Disney Concert Hall rehearsing 200-voice diocesan choir on June 11, 2015, before that evening’s concert celebrating 150 years of Episcopal Church ministry in Los Angeles. Photo: Danielle Klebanow
In Italian, to be “in good hands” is to be “in buone mani,” under the care of a competent, trustworthy person. And for the musical life of L.A.’s St. James’ Episcopal Church these past 31 years, no truer words can be spoken about a leader of the same name, Canon Maestro James Paul Buonemani.
Whether at the organ console, the conductor’s podium, or the keypad calculating the well-managed budget of the acclaimed Great Music at St. James’ program, Buonemani’s hands are legendary in calling forth excellence and success.
Now, after three decades as music director at St. James’, Buonemani, 69, retires this month. His finalé at the Wilshire Center parish begins Nov. 22 with a 4:15 p.m. Choral Evensong for the re-opening St. James’ newly remodeled 100-year-old sanctuary (see related story here), closed after a year of construction, and fittingly also the feast day of St. Cecilia, patron of music and musicians. Services at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 23 will follow as the culmination of a sequence of some 11,300 similar Sunday liturgies that Buonemani has guided at St. James’.
“Jim is a person whose vision is beyond what everyone else sees,” Manuel Rosales, world-renowned builder of pipe organs, told The Episcopal News. “He has a long-range view, not just for the moment. He’s turned St. James’ into a showplace of very fine music and liturgy. He’s been the catalyst that took the church from near oblivion to the place of vitality it is today.”
Rosales – whose organ building career spans 60 years and most recent commissions include partnering with a German firm to build a new 8,000-pipe instrument in Trinity Church Wall Street – has played a key role in preserving and maintaining the John David Falconer Memorial pipe organ being installed at St. James’ Church at the time of Buonemani’s arrival in 1995, with significant funding from the Ahmanson Foundation. The core 1911 Murray M. Harris organ rebuilt at St. James’ had served the former St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in two locations, first on the site of downtown’s present Biltmore Hotel, and later on Figueroa Street, where the church was demolished in 1980 after earthquake damage.
When hired in 1995 as music director by then-rector Kirk Smith who is now retired bishop of Arizona, Buonemani succeeded the late John David Falconer, the parish’s beloved music director who was tragically murdered in a robbery outside a Los Feliz convenience store. Buonemani rose to the dual challenge of caring pastorally for the choir while helping to guide installation of the historic organ. “He had the overarching vision of what to do,” said Rosales, who collaborated with Frank Gehry on the design of the iconic 6,134-pipe organ in Walt Disney Concert Hall at the Music Center of Los Angeles County.
Disney Hall was the setting when Buonemani and together with five other accomplished parish music directors in the diocese were named honorary canons by then-Bishop J. Jon Bruno. The music directors took turns at the organ console and directing the mass 200-voice choir gathered from across the diocese, said to be the largest such chorus to have sung at the concert hall at that time. Video of Buonemani conducting “All creatures of our God and King,” is here.
“It’s been the honor of my life to serve at St. James’ in-the-City these past 31 years,” Buonemani told The News. “The music, the ministry, and above all the people have filled my life with joy, purpose, and profound gratitude. I retire with a full heart and deep thanksgiving for the extraordinary community that has shared this journey with me.”
St. James’ rector, the Rev. Dr. Kate Cress, shared her gratitude on behalf of the parish: “It is nearly impossible for me to imagine life at St. James without Canon Jim Buonemani’s extraordinary music-making. Of course, life goes on, and we will continue to thrive, yet at the same time, this is truly the end of a magnificent era. My heart is overflowing with thanks for Jim. He is greatly loved by hundreds of singers who have come through the ranks of the Choir of Saint James, and thousands of grateful worshippers down through the decades. Jim’s work has brought us more deeply into the life of the Spirit, and this is a gift beyond measure. I wish him a retirement of peace and exciting adventures, composing, conducting, and much, much joy.”
Cress added her delight in joining Buonemani in July for the European premiere of his choral-orchestral work “O Beauty, Ever Ancient, Ever New” – inspired by the words of St. Augustine of Hippo and composed for the occasion of the 2012 centennial of St. James’ parish – at the Zêzere Arts Festival in Tomár, Portugal.
“I will never forget the summer of 2025, when my daughter and I were honored to hear the European premiere of Jim’s unforgettable ‘O Beauty, Ever Ancient, Ever New,” Cress said. “Singers at the festival spoke of how his piece was their favorite piece to sing, and how it deepened their own personal, spiritual journeys.”
A brief retrospective of Buonemani’s career, part of which appears on the parish website, reads as follows:
The choir of St. James’, Los Angeles, at Westminster Abby. Parish photo.
“Under his leadership, the acclaimed Choir of Saint James completed four tours of the United Kingdom. In 1996, it became the first American choir to perform with the Choir of Westminster Abbey under Martin Neary, and the following year, it sang for the official Los Angeles memorial service for Princess Diana. The choir was featured at the 2004 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists, and in 2013, it collaborated with Maestro James Conlon of the Los Angeles Opera in a centenary concert honoring Benjamin Britten.
“Throughout his tenure, Buonemani led the choir in many of the great choral masterworks with orchestra, including the Requiems of Duruflé, Fauré, Mozart, and Verdi; Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms; Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna; and others. His 2015 performance of Tallis’s Spem in Alium was among the first in Los Angeles. The choir’s recording O Beauty Ever Ancient Ever New (Gothic, 2018) received critical acclaim, and many performances are available online here.
“Buonemani founded the International Laureates Organ Series and Classical Sundays at Six, which have presented more than 400 free concerts in Los Angeles. A graduate with highest distinction of the Eastman School of Music and Westminster Choir College, he has also studied at the Royal School of Church Music in England and has performed in major churches and cathedrals across the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Mexico.
“As a composer, Buonemani’s works have received widespread acclaim. His Preces and Responses (Paraclete Press) have become a staple of the Anglican Evensong repertoire. His choral-orchestral work O Beauty Ever Ancient Ever New (MusicaBellaLuna) received its European premiere in 2025 at the Zêzere Arts Festival in Tomar, Portugal, under Maestro Bryan MacKay. He collaborated with Morten Lauridsen on the organ arrangement of Lux Aeterna, premiering the version with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 1997 and later performing it at the inaugural organ concert in Walt Disney Concert Hall (2004) and on a 1998 recording with the Donald Brinegar Singers.
“Buonemani began his musical career at age 13 when he was appointed assistant organist to then-Director of Music William Ferris at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester, N.Y. His early aptitude for composition was recognized with first prize in Baylor University’s National Composition Competition at the age of 15…. He graduated with highest distinction from both the Eastman School of Music and the Westminster Choir College and also studied in England at the Royal School of Church Music.”
Canon Dr. Craig Philips, accomplished composer and music director at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, added his appreciation and accolades: “Jim is someone I have admired and respected since we me in the mid-1990s, and someone I’m so happy to have as a friend and colleague,” Philips told The News. “He is at the pinnacle of our profession and one of the best choir trainers and conductors we have. And he’s certainly a role model for younger musicians who aspire to continue the great traditions of music in The Episcopal Church. I send my heartiest congratulations, well wishes, and thanks for all he’s done for music in Los Angeles.”