The former Invercargill teacher travelled from Sydney for the choir’s gala concert on Saturday night.
The first half of the concert comprised 10 songs which had been part of previous concerts.
In the second half guest soprano Rebecca Ryan performed three songs performed and joined the choir singing Vivaldi’s Gloria.
Conductor Christine McLeod also performed a duet from the Gloria with Ms Ryan.
The Invercargill Symphonia accompanied the items in the second half of the concert.
About 300 people attended the performance at First Church.
Mr James said when he left Invercargill in 1995 he was not sure the choir would continue.
“Fortunately, they had a series of conductors which kept the thing going.
“It’s been great, actually.
Even though it meant returning to Invercargill in the winter, he was keen to come.
“The invitation was so personal, I can’t turn this down.”
He conducted Cantique di Jean Racine which was accompanied by Shirley Walker on the piano.
In the early days of the choir madrigals, which were unaccompanied songs with multiple voice parts, were a regular part of the choir’s repertoire.
“We sort of feasted on those.”
Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell said he enjoyed the concert.
“It was inspirational evening.”
He especially enjoyed the Scottish folk song An Eriskay Love Lilt.
When he was at school in Scotland he used to sing the song.
“It was nice memories.”
He was sitting close to the cello players and enjoyed listening to the instruments.
“I've never sat beside a cello before and it was fantastic.”
Soprano Rebecca Ryan grew up in Bluff before studying at the University of Otago and completing postgraduate studies in London in the late 1990s.
She had not performed much in the South.
“It’s great to be back as a singer, because I still know most of the people in the choir, and some people knew me when I was a kid.”
While she had never sung in the choir she had played the violin in the Invercargill Symphonia in 2009 when she and her husband moved back to Invercargill.
“Sometimes I conducted them and put on concerts.”
