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James Ehnes

Violin, Viola
Artistic Director, Seattle Chamber Music Society
Artist of Year, Gramophone Awards 2021

  • James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after musicians on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, Ehnes is a favourite guest at the world’s most celebrated concert halls.

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  • Recent orchestral highlights include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra. Throughout the 24/25 season, Ehnes will be Artist in Residence with Melbourne Symphony and will tour to Asia, where he will perform the complete Beethoven sonatas at Kioi Hall, Tokyo, as well as performances with Hong Kong Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony Orchestras.


    Alongside his concerto work, Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall (including the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas in 2019/20, and the complete violin/viola works of Brahms and Schumann in 2021/22), Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Ravinia, Montreux, Verbier Festival, Dresden Music Festival and Festival de Pâques in Aix. A devoted chamber musician, he is the leader of the Ehnes Quartet and the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.


    Ehnes has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings, including two Grammy’s, three Gramophone Awards and twelve Juno Awards. In 2021, Ehnes was announced as the recipient of the coveted Artist of the Year title in the 2021 Gramophone Awards which celebrated his recent contributions to the recording industry, including the launch of a new online recital series entitled ‘Recitals from Home’ which was released in June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of concert halls. Ehnes recorded the six Bach Sonatas and Partitas and six Sonatas of Ysaÿe from his home with state-of-the-art recording equipment and released six episodes over the period of two months. These recordings have been met with great critical acclaim by audiences worldwide and Ehnes was described by Le Devoir as being "at the absolute forefront of the streaming evolution". 


    Ehnes began violin studies at the age of five, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin aged nine, and made his orchestra debut with L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal aged 13. He continued his studies with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music and The Juilliard School, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music upon his graduation in 1997. He is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a Visiting Professor. As of summer 2024, he is appointed as Professor of Violin at the Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.


    Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.

    2024/25 season / 460 words. Not to be altered without permission.

    Intermusica represents James Ehnes worldwide

Performances

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Concerto repertoire

Bach
Violin Concerto in A minor
Violin Concerto in E major
Violin Concerto in D minor for two violins
Concerto in D major for three violins
Concerto in C minor for Violin and Oboe 


Barber
Violin Concerto


Bartók
Violin Concerto No.1
Violin Concerto No.2
Two Rhapsodies for Violin and Orchestra
Viola Concerto  


Beethoven
Violin Concerto
Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin, Cello and Orchestra
Two Romances for Violin and Orchestra


Berg
Violin Concerto


Berlioz
Reverie et Caprice
Harold in Italy 


Bernstein
Serenade


Brahms
Violin Concerto
Double Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra


Britten
Violin Concerto


Bruch
Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor
Violin Concerto No.2 in D minor
Violin Concerto No.3 in D minor
Scottish Fantasy


Chausson
Poeme


Corigliano
Chaconne from "The Red Violin"


Dallapiccola
Tartiniana


Dohnányi
Violin Concerto No.2


Dvořák
Violin Concerto


Elgar
Violin Concerto


Glazunov
Violin Concerto


Haydn
Concerto in C major


Anders Hillborg
Violin Concerto No. 2


James Newton Howard
Violin Concerto 


Hummel
Concerto in G major
Adagio and Rondo alla Polacca
Potpourri (viola and orchestra) 


Janácek
Violin Concerto 'Pilgrimage of the Soul'


Kabalevsky
Violin Concerto


Aaron Jay Kernis
Air
Violin Concerto 


Khachaturian
Violin Concerto


Knussen
Violin Concerto


Korngold
Violin Concerto


Kreisler
Assorted short works for Violin and Orchestra


Lalo
Symphonie Espagnole


Manoury
Synapse


Massenet
Meditation (from Thais)


Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto in E minor


Milhaud
Cinéma-fantaisie (après 'Le Boeuf sur la Toit')


Mozart
Violin Concerto No.1 in B flat
Violin Concerto No.2 in D major
Violin Concerto No.3 in G major
Violin Concerto No.4 in D major
Violin Concerto No.5 in A major
Rondo in Bb
Rondo in C
Adagio in E
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra


Nielsen
Violin Concerto


Paganini
Violin Concerto No.1 in D major
Violin Concerto No.2 in B minor
Violin Concerto No.3
Violin Concerto No.4
Moto Perpetuo
Theme and Variations on "I Palpiti"
La Streghe (Witches' Dance)


Panufnik
Violin Concerto


Prokofiev
Violin Concerto No.1 in D major
Violin Concerto No.2 in G minor


Ravel
Tzigane


Ridout
Ballade No.1 for viola and orchestra


Saint-Saëns
Violin Concerto No.3 in B minor
Havanaise
Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso


Sarasate
Carmen Fantasy
Faust Fantasy
Zigeunerweisen


Schubert
Rondo in A
Konzertstück


Schumann
Concerto


Shostakovich
Violin Concerto No.1


Sibelius
Violin Concerto Op.47 in D minor
Six Humoresques
Suite for violin and strings, Op.117 


Sinding
Suite in A minor


Strauss
Violin Concerto 


Stravinsky
Violin Concerto


Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto
Valse-Scherzo
Sérénade mélancolique


Vaughan Williams 
The Lark Ascending


Vieuxtemps
Violin Concerto No.4 in D minor
Violin Concerto No.5 in A minor


Vivaldi
The Four Seasons
Four concertos from L'estro Armonico
Concerto for Three Violins, RV 551 


Walton
Violin Concerto
Viola Concerto 


Weill
Concerto for Violin and Winds


Wieniawski
Violin Concerto No.1 in F sharp minor
Violin Concerto No.2 in D minor
Faust Fantasy
Polonaise in A
Polonaise in D
Légende
Variation on an Original Theme 


John Williams
Violin Concerto 

Conductors

John Adams
Marin Alsop
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Elim Chan
Nicholas Collon
James Conlon
Sir Andrew Davis
Stéphane Denève
Kevin John Edusei
Sir Mark Elder
Iván Fischer
Edward Gardner
Gustavo Gimeno
Giancarlo Guerrero
Daniel Harding
Manfred Honeck
Jakub Hrůša
Marek Janowski
Neeme Järvi
Paavo Järvi
Kirill Karabits
Emmanuel Krivine
Louis Langrée
Fabio Luisi
Cristian Măcelaru
Andrew Manze
Juanjo Mena
Ludovic Morlot
Kent Nagano
Andris Nelsons
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Gianandrea Noseda
Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Peter Oundjian
Rafael Payare
Vassily Petrenko
Petr Popelka
David Robertson
Donald Runnicles
Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Vassily Sinaisky
Leonard Slatkin
Tugan Sokhiev
Thomas Søndergård
Dalia Stasevska
Markus Stenz
Christian Thielemann
Robin Ticciati
Michael Tilson Thomas
Osmo Vänskä
Mark Wigglesworth
Jaap van Zweden 

A violinist in a class of his own.

The Times

The wondrous James Ehnes, a thinker of the violin as well as a supreme virtuoso of the instrument ... an artist of the first order.

The Daily Telegraph

Soulful, impeccable, engulfing Shostakovich... The performance prompted a rare standing ovation, and rightly so.

The Guardian

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Intermusica represents James Ehnes worldwide

Aimee Chow
Joint Head of Artist Management
+44 20 7608 9949
achow@intermusica.com

Lucy Saunders
Senior Artist Manager
+44 20 7608 9936
lsaunders@intermusica.com

Nicola Friemel
Senior Artist Manager - German-speaking territories only
+44 20 7608 9941
nfriemel@intermusica.com

Hazel Park
Associate Artist Manager
+44 20 7608 9948
hpark@intermusica.com

All artists

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Counter-tenor

Tim Mead

Harpsichord

Richard Egarr

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles

Saxophone

Jess Gillam

Contralto

Avery Amereau