James Ehnes

Gilbert Omenn and Martha Darling Artistic Director

SCMS Debut: 1995 Summer Festival

James Ehnes is recognized as one of the world’s foremost violinists, and is a favorite guest of many of the world’s most celebrated orchestras and concert halls. Recent orchestral highlights include the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, London Symphony, Gedwandhausorchester Leipzig, New York Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. Alongside his concerto work, Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule and performs regularly at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. In 2010, he established the Ehnes Quartet, with whom he has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Ehnes has an extensive discography of over 40 CDs and has won many awards for his recordings, including a Gramophone Award, two GRAMMY Awards and 11 JUNO awards. He began violin studies at the age of four, made his orchestral debut with l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal at age 13 and graduated from The Juilliard School in 1997, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada, and has received honorary degrees from Brandon University and the University of British Columbia. James Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.