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Track Listing:

Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042_Allegro

Adagio

Aleggro assai

Concerto for Flute, Violin, and Harpsichord in A minor, BWV 1044_Allegro

Adagio ma non tanto e dolce

Tempo di Alla breve

Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C minor, BWV 1060R_Allegro

Adagio

Allegro

Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052R_Allegro

Adagio

Allegro

Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041

Andante

Allegro assai

Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043_Vivace

Largo ma non tanto

Allegro

Violin Concerto in G minor, BWV 1056R

Largo

Presto

Concerto for Three Violins in D major, BWV 1064R_Allegro

Adagio

Allegro

James Ehnes :

Bach - Complete VC's w/Canada Nat. Arts Ctr. Orch.

CANADA’S NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA AND JAMES EHNES RELEASE RECORDING OF J.S. BACH’S COMPLETE VIOLIN CONCERTOS

The new double-disk album is the Orchestra’s latest collaboration with the internationally renowned Canadian violinist
March 28, 2025 – OTTAWA (Canada) – Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra is thrilled to release its latest album created in partnership with the multi-Juno and Grammy-Award-winning violinist James Ehnes. On J.S. Bach: The Complete Violin Concertos, recorded in Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre, Ehnes reunites with the musicians of the NAC Orchestra to bring the legendary German composer’s violin concertos to life.

The landmark album includes Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor, Violin Concerto in E major, Concerto for Two Violins, and Concerto for Flute, Violin, and Harpsichord alongside Ehnes’s own reconstructions of Bach’s Violin Concerto in D minor, Violin Concerto in G minor, Concerto for Oboe and Violin, and Concerto for Three Violins.
This ambitious project is not only a fulfillment of Ehnes’s longtime desire to present Bach’s violin concerti in their entirety but also an embodiment of an artistic partnership with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra that stretches back over three decades.
“I wanted to record them with the type of ensemble that could make a real impact,” Ehnes notes. “These players are some of my closest friends, even away from music. It was so special to dive into a project like this together with musicians with whom there’s no barrier of formality or unfamiliarity.”

“It’s pure joy!” adds NAC Orchestra Managing Director Nelson McDougall. “This latest release, with our good friend and frequent collaborator James Ehnes, showcases his unique and electric connection with the remarkable NAC Orchestra musicians.”

Ehnes debuted with the NAC Orchestra in 1993 when he was 17 and has since shared the stage with the ensemble countless times. He was the Orchestra’s first-ever Artist in Residence from 2021 to 2024 and a featured artist on several national and international tours, including its acclaimed performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2022

The ensemble’s Concertmaster, Yosuke Kawasaki, joins Ehnes on Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, with Associate Concertmaster Jessica Linnebach completing the trio for the Concerto for Three Violins. The album also features Principal Oboe Charles Hamann, Principal Flute
Joanna G’froerer, and guest harpsichord Luc Beauséjour as soloists.

“It was an absolute delight for me as Concertmaster and a soloist to collaborate with our good friend James Ehnes on this album,” Kawasaki says. “Our Orchestra’s early roots developed in this kind of repertoire. Even though we have grown and evolved to play a much broader range of music, this partnership is a happy reminder of how wonderfully this Orchestra performs as such a responsive and flexible ensemble in works from Baroque.”

J.S. Bach: The Complete Violin Concertos is a powerful addition to the Orchestra’s discography, which has grown steadily in recent years under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley.

“I have so much respect for Canada’s NAC Orchestra and the National Arts Centre,” Ehnes says. “They’ve made a concerted effort for many years to be daring in their programming while not shying away from the core repertoire, which they do so well.”
The album is now available through leading music retailers and streaming platforms via the Analekta music label.

ABOUT CANADA’S NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA

Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra is praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary learning and engagement programs, and its unwavering support of Canadian creativity. The NAC Orchestra is based in Ottawa, Canada’s national capital, and has grown into one of the country’s most acclaimed and dynamic ensembles since its founding in 1969. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, engaging communities from coast to coast to coast through inclusive programming, compelling storytelling, and innovative partnerships.

The NAC Orchestra has also established a rich discography, including many of the over 80 orchestral works it has commissioned over the years. These include:

• Poema: Ad Astra, the first album in a four-part series exploring tone poems by Richard Strauss
• Two Orchestras, One Symphony, a grand-scale interpretation of the late Quebec composer Jacques Hétu’s monumental Symphony No. 5., produced in collaboration with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
• Truth in Our Time, including the premiere recording of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 13, commissioned by the NAC Orchestra
• Gabriel Dharmou’s “the fog in our poise,” a 2025 Juno nominee for Classical Composition of the Year (from Vestiges d’une fable)
• Clara - Robert - Johannes: a multi-year, multi-album exploration of the music of Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms, featuring pianists Angela Hewitt, Stewart Goodyear, and Gabriela Montero
• Ana Sokolovic’s “Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,” winner of the 2019 Juno for Classical Composition of the Year (from the 2019 Juno-nominated New Worlds)
• The Bounds of Our Dreams, a 2020 Juno nominee for Classical Album of the Year (Large Ensemble) featuring Alain Lefèvre
• Life Reflected, which includes “My Name is Amanda Todd” by the late Jocelyn Morlock (winner of the 2018 Juno for Classical Composition of the Year)
• A recording of Mozart piano concertos with Angela Hewitt, winner of the 2015 Juno for Classical Album of the Year (Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment)

ABOUT JAMES EHNES

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 unfaltering musicality, Ehnes is a favourite guest at the world’s most celebrated concert halls.

Recent orchestral highlights include engagements with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Throughout the 2024–2025 season, Ehnes will be Artist in Residence with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and will tour in Asia, where he will perform the complete Beethoven sonatas at Kioi Hall in Tokyo, as well as performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Alongside his concerto work, Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at London’s Wigmore Hall (including the complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas in 2019 and the complete violin/viola works of Brahms and Schumann in 2021 and 2022), New York’s Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Symphony Center, and Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, alongside appearances at Ravinia Festival, the Montreux-Vevey Classical Music Festival, the Verbier Festival, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence. 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 Awards, three Gramophone Awards, and 12 Juno Awards. Gramophone named Ehnes as its 2021 Artist of the Year in celebration of his recent contributions to the recording industry, including the launch of a new online recital series entitled “Recitals from Home,” released in June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of concert halls. Ehnes recorded Bach’s six sonatas and partitas and Ysaÿe’s six sonatas from his home with state-of-the- art recording equipment and released six episodes over two months. These recordings were met with great critical acclaim by audiences worldwide, and Le Devoir described Ehnes as “at the absolute forefront of the streaming evolution.”

Ehnes began violin studies at age five, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin at age nine, and made his orchestra debut with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at age 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 graduating in 1997. Ehnes 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 of Violin. As of summer 2024, he is a Professor of Violin at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE

The National Arts Centre is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety — and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.