Splendor of the Violin (Masterworks 3)

Leif Bjaland, conductor
James Ehnes, violin

Thursday, January 8, 8 p.m., Neel
Friday, January 9, 8 p.m., Van Wezel
Saturday, January 10, 8 p.m., Van Wezel
Sunday, January 11, 2:30 p.m., Van Wezel

Maestro Bjaland and the Orchestra begin this memorable concert by performing two perennial favorites from Debussy’s Nocturnes. The excitement builds as 2008 Grammy-award winner James Ehnes returns to the stage for a stunning interpretation of Brahms' Violin Concerto, one of the most demanding works in the violin repertoire. Bartok's popular Concerto for Orchestra, which highlights the virtuosity of the entire ensemble, serves as a rousing climax to this evening of majestic music.

The Orchestra Association will present Classical Conversations, an informative pre-concert talk on Thursday, January 8, at 10:30 a.m. in Holley Hall of the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center. Admission is $8 and tickets may be purchased at the door.

About James Ehnes, violin

James Ehnes wins 2008 GRAMMY and JUNO Awards for his recording of concertos by Barber, Korngold and Walton with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

"… blessed with as stunning a technique and as intriguing a musical personality as any violinist on the circuit, James Ehnes seems set to become one of classical music's biggest names. ...he produces a simply gorgeous palette of timbres - sometimes warm and velvety, sometimes with the pellucid clarity of lark song at dawn, elsewhere thrillingly powerful and incisive." (London Times review)

James Ehnes lives in Bradenton with his wife Kate, when he isn’t traveling the world as one of today’s premier violinists. He has performed with many of the most renowned conductors in the world, and with orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, the United States, and Canada. Recent international engagements include the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Orchestre de Lyon, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), the Malaysian Philharmonic and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. In the United States, James has performed with the major orchestras of New York, Cleveland, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit, Minnesota, St. Paul, Houston, Dallas and Seattle.

He has also appeared at major international festivals including Chicago's Ravinia Festival, the Marlboro Festival, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, the Tokyo Summer Music Festival, the Bermuda Festival, the Montreux Festival, the Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, the Festival Côte St. André, the Moritzburg Festival, and the Festival of the White Nights.

James was born in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. He began violin studies at the age of four, at age nine he became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin. He studied with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music, then in 1993 at The Juilliard School. He graduated from Julliard in 1997, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music.