James was commissioned to write a work for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. The resultant work “Hollow Kings”, is a four-movement work that explores and responds to speeches given by four of Shakespeare’s kings.

The orchestration includes electric guitar. James thought of this instrument as a modern-day lute, an instrument that was symbolically significant in the Elizabethan era.

In the work, he has drawn parallels with the modern-day instrument and its ancestor through references in Shakespeare’s plays.