“...mercifully free of affectation or vanity, yet blessed with as stunning a technique and as intriguing a musical personality as any violinist on the circuit, James Ehnes seems set to become one of classical music's biggest names.” Richard Morrison, The Times
Born in 1976 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, James Ehnes has rapidly established a pre-eminent reputation among young concert violinists. Ehnes has already performed with many of the major orchestras of the world including Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, New York, London Symphony, Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, DSO Berlin and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with numerous leading conductors including Ashkenazy, Alsop, Sir Andrew Davis, Dutoit, Ivan Fischer, Paavo Järvi, Maazel, Mackerras, Noseda, Robertson, Saraste and Thielemann.
The 2008/9 season is an exciting one for Ehnes, especially in Europe where he makes debuts with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande playing the Brahms Double Concerto with Truls Mork, the Gürzenich Orchester, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and the Gothenburg Symphony. This season he also returns to the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra as well as many other UK orchestras such as BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. The season begins with a major tour of Australia and he returns there later in the autumn to appear with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He will also appear once again with New York Philharmonic and the Toronto, Montreal and Detroit symphony orchestras.
Highlights of the 2007/8 season included a return to the New York Philharmonic with Maazel, and performances with the San Francisco, Detroit and New World symphonies. In Europe Ehnes appeared in the Prague Autumn Festival with the BBC Scottish Symphony and Volkov and with the Halle Orchestra and Konzerthausorchester Berlin.
James Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule appearing at Festivals such as City of London, Ravinia, Montreux, Chaise-Dieu and the White Nights in St Petersburg. He gave his debut Wigmore Hall recital in February 2007 to great critical acclaim and at the 2007 BBC Proms premiered a new work for violin and piano by Aaron Jay Kernis. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Andsnes, Lortie, Vogler and Yo-Yo Ma. Ehnes is the Associate Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.
As an extensive recording artist, Ehnes’s most recent release is a critically acclaimed live recording of the Elgar Concerto with Sir Andrew Davies and the Philharmonia Orchestra. His recording of the Korngold, Barber and Walton Violin Concertos with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Bramwell Tovey won a 2008 Grammy Award for best Instrumental Soloist Performance and a 2008 JUNO award for Best Classical Albumn of the Year. The recording has received outstanding reviews, with Gramophone commenting: “[Ehnes’s] playing has always been impressive on disc, but here he excels himself in expressive range as well as the tonal beauty, with expressive rubato perfectly controlled….an outstanding disc in every way.” Other recent recordings include the complete Mozart Violin Concerti with a hand-picked orchestra directed by Ehnes himself. BBC Music Magazine selected this Mozart disc as the benchmark recording of this repertoire.
Ehnes began violin studies at the age of four, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin aged nine, made his orchestral debut with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal aged 13, and graduated from The Juilliard School in 1997, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music.
James Ehnes plays the “Ex Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715 and gratefully acknowledges its extended loan from the Fulton Collection.
James Ehnes is represented by Intermusica.
August 2008 / 590 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.