James Ehnes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Ehnes (born January 27, 1976 in Brandon, Manitoba) is a Canadian concert violinist.
The son of Alan Ehnes, a trumpeter and music teacher, James Ehnes began playing violin by the age of five. He won numerous competitions in Canada as a teen and in 2001, he won the Juno Award for Best Classical Album. In January 2002 Ehnes was named Young Artist of the Year at the Cannes Classical Awards in Cannes, France.
James Ehnes graduated from the Juilliard School in 1997 where he was a student of Sally Thomas. He is now an international performer and one of the most prolific recording artists in any style of music (with a total of 21 recordings as of 2008). He plays on a 1715 "Ex Marsick Stradivarius" which belongs to the Fulton Collection.
His recording of Paganini's 24 Caprices, made for Telarc in 1995, was acclaimed as a fine recording of this set of incredibly difficult pieces. In 2005, he was awarded a prestigious Avery Fischer Career Grant and in 2007 he received a Juno for Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment for Mozart: Violin Concerti - James Ehnes/ Mozart Anniversary Orchestra CBC.
Ehnes's 2007 recording of Elgar's violin concerto was characterized by the classical music magazine Gramophone as "a performance guaranteed to make you fall in love all over again with this sublime music." In January 2008, Gramophone made the recording as an Editor's Choice commenting that it "can only boost Ehnes's standing as one of the most gifted and charismatic fiddlers around." In February 2008, Ehnes won a Grammy award in the Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra) category for his Barber/Korngold/Walton: Violin Concertos album.
In 2007, James Ehnes was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He lives in Bradenton, Florida and Philadelphia with his wife Kate.
[edit] Discography
- 1995 Paganini: The 24 Caprices for Solo Violin
- 2000 Prokofiev: The Two Violin Sonatas and Five Melodies
- 2000 Ravel | Debussy | Saint-Saens
- 2000 Johann Sebastian Bach: The Six Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin
- 2001 Max Bruch: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 3
- 2001 French Showpieces
- 2002 Max Bruch: Concerto No.2 and Scottish Fantasy
- 2002 Fritz Kreisler
- 2003 Piano Quintets
- 2004 Romantic Pieces
- 2004 Wieniawski | Sarasate
- 2005 Dallapiccola
- 2005 Donhányi
- 2005 Johann Nepomuk Hummel
- 2005 John Adams: Road Movies
- 2005 Antonín Dvorák: Concertos
- 2005 Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord Vol.1
- 2006 Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord Vol.2
- 2006 Mozart: Mozart Anniversary Orchestra - 2 CD set
- 2006 Barber, Korngold, Walton: Violin Concertos
- 2007 Elgar: Violin Concerto
