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Discography

James Ehnes

James Ehnes gave a masterclass at the Academy of Music and Drama
How-to Play Double Stops & Chords on the Violin with James Ehnes
James Ehnes on Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1

James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after musicians on the international stage. Ehnes plays the “Marsicknation 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.