East Studio Building, JS209
Education
- B.M., The Juilliard School, 1997
James Ehnes is professor of practice in violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
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 an unfaltering musicality, he is a favorite guest at the world’s most celebrated concert halls. Recent orchestral highlights include the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony, NHK Symphony, and Munich Philharmonic.
Throughout the 2023-24 season, Ehnes continued as artist-in-residence with the National Arts Centre of Canada and artistic partner with Artis–Naples. Season highlights included appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a recitalist, he performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall (including the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas in 2019-20 and the complete violin/viola works of Brahms and Schumann in 2021-22), Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Ravinia, Montreux, Verbier Festival, Dresden Music Festival, and Festival de Pâques in Aix. A devoted chamber musician, he is the leader of the Ehnes Quartet and, since 2012, has been artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.
Ehnes has an extensive discography and won many awards for his recordings, including two Grammy Awards, three Gramophone Awards, and 11 Juno Awards. In 2021, he was announced as the recipient of the coveted Artist of the Year title in the 2021 Gramophone Awards, which celebrated his recent contributions to the recording industry, including the launch of a new online recital series titled Recitals from Home, which was released in June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of concert halls.
Ehnes recorded the six Bach sonatas and partitas and six Ysaÿe sonatas from his home with state-of-the-art recording equipment and released six episodes over the period of two months. These recordings were met with great critical acclaim by audiences worldwide, and Ehnes was described by Le Devoir as being “at the absolute forefront of the streaming evolution.”
Ehnes began violin studies at the age of five, became a protégé of noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin at age nine, and made his orchestral debut with L’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 his graduation in 1997.
He 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.
Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.