James Campbell has performed solo and chamber music concerts in 30 countries, has been soloist with over 60 orchestras, including the Boston Pops, the  London Symphony, the Russian Philharmonic, and the Montreal Symphony and has performed  Copland's Clarinet Concerto four times with Aaron Copland conducting. He has appeared with over 30 string quartets, including the  Amadeus (when he replaced an ailing Benny Goodman on a tour of California), Guarneri, Vermeer, New Zealand and St Lawrence Quartets.  He has made 40 recordings, including the Debussy Rhapsody with  Glenn Gould, the Philharnonia Orchestra of London, and the premiere recording of the Berio arrangement of the Brahms  F minor Sonata with the London Symphony. His  recording of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet was chosen by the BBC and London Times as the best available. More than 30 works have been written for him, including works by  James Macmillan(Scotland) Jacques Hetu(Canada), David Baker(USA), George Shearing(UK/USA ),  Wilhem Jetts(Holland), and Keiko Harada(Japan)..

He has been awarded  a Juno, Canada's Artist of the Year, the Queens Jubilee Medal, and  Canada's highest honour, the Order of Canada.

Since 1989, James Campbell has spent the academic year as Professor of Music at Indiana University, but since 1985 has been Artistic Director of the Festival of the Sound in Ontario.

James has taken the Festival to England on three occasions and it has been the subject of documentaries by BBC Television, CBC Television and TV Ontario. In 2003 Festival of the Sound opened its own 500-seat concert hall, the Charles W. Stockey Festival Performance Hall.