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James Ehnes, violinist

Short Biography


Born in 1976 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, Ehnes has rapidly established a pre-eminent reputation among young concert violinists.

In North America Ehnes has performed with almost all of the major symphony orchestras with such conductors as Ashkenazy, Comissiona, Andrew Davis, Dutoit, Fischer, Graf, Macal, Robertson, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Thielemann and Bruno Weil.

Ehnes has given recitals at several of the world’s most prestigious international festivals collaborating with such artists as Leif Ove Andsnes, Louis Lortie and Yo-Yo Ma.

Recent European engagements have included a recital at the City of London Festival, a return to the BBC Proms, following his spectacular debut last year, and a tour of Italy with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. Ehnes has also performed with DSO Berlin, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Helsinki Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Finnish Radio Orchestra and Saarlaendischer Rundfunk. Further afield he has performed with NHK Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic.

The 2002-3 season includes debuts with the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra and Budapest Festival Orchestra, concerts with the Orchestre National de Lille, a tour of China and Macau with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as well as recitals in the UK, France and Italy.

Recent releases include a recording of French concert pieces with L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec (Analekta) and a CBC recording of Bruch Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 with Charles Dutoit and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. His discography also includes Prokofiev’s Two Sonatas and Five Melodies (Analekta), a French Recital disc (CBC), the 24 Paganini Caprices (Telarc) and Bach’s Six Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin (Analekta), for which Ehnes won the Cannes Award 2002 for Best Young Artist..

Ehnes began violin studies at the age of four, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin aged nine, made his orchestral solo debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal aged thirteen, 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.

February 2003/352 words

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