James Avery (September 23, 1937 – March 8, 2009) was an American classical pianist and conductor.
Avery recorded works by Stefan Wolpe, Charles Wuorinen, Brian Ferneyhough, and Karlheinz Stockhausen.
In the fall of 1978 he took a leave of absence from the University of Iowa in order to be a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome (Trythall 2014, 84).
In 1992 he formed the contemporary music ensemble SurPlus, which he conducted and in which he performed on the piano.
After its debut in Freiburg, Ensemble SurPlus performed at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse and at festivals throughout Europe (Ferneyhough, Schick, Veale, and Mahnkopf 2009, 2).