James Erber was born in 1951 in London. Having gained Music degrees at the Universities of Sussex and Nottingham he spent a year studying composition with Brian Ferneyhough at the Musikhochschule, Freiburg-im-Breisgau. He has worked in music publishing and education.

His music has been widely performed and broadcast throughout Europe and in the USA, Australia and New Zealand by many eminent soloists and ensembles. It includes "Epitomaria-Glosaria-Commentaria" for 25 solo strings (1981-84), the "Traces" cycle for solo flute (1991-2006), two string quartets (1992-94 and 2010-11), "Das Buch Bahir" for 9 instruments (2004-2005), "The Death of the Kings" for 11 instruments (2007) and "An Allegorical Landscape" for clarinet, trumpet and percussion (2010).

Ian Pace’s recording of "You done torn your playhouse down" for piano and Kate Romano’s recording of "Strange Moments of Intimacy" for solo clarinet are available on the NMC and Metier labels respectively. A recording by Franklin Cox of "le colonne d’Ercole" for solo cello will be released imminently on Centaur Records (USA).