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Born in 1976 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, James Ehnes has rapidly established a pre-eminent reputation among young concert violinists.
In North America Ehnes has performed with the major orchestras of Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Detroit, Houston, St. Paul, Cincinnati, Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal with conductors including Ashkenazy, Comissiona, Andrew Davis, Dutoit, Ivan Fischer, Graf, Paavo Järvi, Macal, Robertson, Saraste, Skrowaczewski, Talmi, Thielemann, Tovey, Weil, and McFerrin.
Ehnes has given recitals in all major Canadian cities (notably at Toronto’s Glenn Gould Studio), in Paris and Washington and at major international festivals including City of London Festival, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, Bermuda Festival, Montreux Festival, Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, Festival Côte St. André and the Festival of White Nights in St. Petersburg. As a chamber musician, he has performed throughout North America and Europe, collaborating with such artists as Leif Ove Andsnes, Louis Lortie, Yo-Yo Ma and Jan Vogler.
Orchestral engagements outside of the US have included the Czech Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Helsinki Philharmonic, Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Orchestra. NHK Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Lahti Symphony and a tour of Italy with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie.
Following his spectacular Proms debut in 2001 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis, Ehnes returned to the Proms in 2002 to perform the Brahms Concerto with BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Richard Hickox. Other highlights of the 2002-3 season include debuts with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and BBC Philharmonic, as well as concerts with Budapest Festival Orchestra, Houston Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Gulbenkian Orchestra, a tour of China and Macau with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and recitals in the UK, Italy and at the Octobre en Normandie Festival in France.
Ehnes’ discography includes a CBC recording of Bruch Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 with Charles Dutoit and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal that was the winner of the Juno Award 2002 for Best Classical Album – "an impressive soloist with an exceptionally pure, sweet tone" [Gramophone Magazine] – and the Bach Six Sonatas & Partitas For Solo Violin on Analekta, which was the winner of the 2002 Cannes Classical Award for Young Artist of the Year – "this is an exceptional debut Bach disc… .his sound is lustrous, his intonation flawless, his stamina untiring… he conveys the gravitas of Bach’s languages with mature assurance" [BBC Music Magazine]. Other recordings include Prokofiev’s Two Sonatas and Five Melodies (Analekta), a French Recital disc (CBC), both with pianist Wendy Chen, and the 24 Paganini Caprices (Telarc). Recent releases include an Analekta recording of French concert pieces with L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec which was also nominated for the 2002 Juno Award for Best Classical Album.
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.
Ehnes plays the "Ex Marsick" Stradivarius of 1715 and gratefully acknowledges its extended loan from the Fulton Collection.
September 2002
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James Ehnes violinist
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