James Kenon Mitchell’s work includes collaborative piano, acting, conducting, and has culminated in a focus on opera stage direction. 

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He has most recently directed Romeo and Juliet at Toledo Opera

starring Kathryn Lewek and Zach Borichevsky.
 
Mr. Mitchell was an Adjunct Professor of Musical Theater at the University of West Florida where he led performances of Brigadoon and A Christmas Carol.  As a collaborative pianist he has accompanied masterclasses for Susan Ashbaker, Deborah Birnbaum, Dalton Baldwin, Joan Dornemann, William Hobbs, Chuck Hudson, Martin Katz, Kathleen Kelly, Kathryn LaBouff, Ken Noda, Matthew Polenzani, Pierre Vallet, Roger Vignoles and Darren K. Woods.

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Mr. Mitchell was Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera and Head of Opera Theatre for six years at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. On the WVU main stage he has conducted Kiss Me Kate, The Seven Deadly Sins, Hinn und Zurück, The Medium, Pirates of Penzance and Assassins. He has also served as music director for WVU Opera on Wheel's touring outreach productions of Mystery on the Docks, Papagayo, and Green Eggs and Ham taking live opera to students in elementary schools throughout the state of West Virginia and concluding in a series of performances at the Charleston Cultural Center. At WVU he was also stage director for productions of Cendrillon, The Old Maid and the Thief and Green Eggs and Ham. Other stage direction at WVU has included stagings of Copland's Twelve Songs of Emily Dickinson, and Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise.
 
At West Virginia Public Theatre Mr. Mitchell has conducted productions of Young Frankenstein and You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown and has been musical director, arranger and composer for their 2017 and 2018 productions of A Christmas Carol. His roles with the company include Young Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and Captain Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher.  

 
Mr. Mitchell has been a dramatic coach on faculty at the CoOPERAtive Program and has directed the program's productions of La Traviata and The Magic Flute. At Westminster Choir College he has directed productions of The Magic Flute, Cendrillon, and Cosi fan Tutte.

At Tri-Cities Opera he has directed La Voix Humaine, Iolanta, Brettl Lieder, L'heure Espagnole, La Tragedie de Carmen and Three Decembers. 

Mr. Mitchell has been an Assistant Director in residence at Ohio Light Opera where he has also performed roles including Arthur in Camelot, Styx in Orpheus in the Underworld, Mr. Twimble in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Huckabee in The Fantasticks.

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Mr. Mitchell holds a BM in Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music, an MM in Collaborative Piano and Opera Coaching from Westminster Choir College and an MM in Opera Stage Direction from the Eastman School of Music where he recently directed L'Amant Anonyme and Alcina.