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James Ehnes

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

Analekta
Release Date: March 28, 2025

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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
1 Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042_Allegro  
2 Adagio  
3 Aleggro assai  
4 Concerto for Flute, Violin, and Harpsichord in A minor, BWV 1044_Allegro  
5 Adagio ma non tanto e dolce  
6 Tempo di Alla breve  
7 Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C minor, BWV 1060R_Allegro  
8 Adagio  
9 Allegro  
10 Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052R_Allegro  
11 Adagio  
12 Allegro  
13 Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041  
14 Andante  
15 Allegro assai  
16 Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043_Vivace  
17 Largo ma non tanto  
18 Allegro  
19 Violin Concerto in G minor, BWV 1056R  
20 Largo  
21 Presto  
22 Concerto for Three Violins in D major, BWV 1064R_Allegro  
23 Adagio  
24 Allegro  
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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.

  • Canada's Nat. Arts Ctre. Orch. - Bach: Complete Violin Concertos, w/James Ehnes is Winnipeg's CLASSIC107 - Feature Disc for April
    Posted At: March 26, 2025
    CLASSIC Winnipeg 107 writes……On March 28, 2025 – Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra will be celebrating the release of J.S. Bach: The Complete Violin Concertos, its latest collaboration with internationally acclaimed violinist James Ehnes. Recorded in Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre, this double-disc album brings together the Orchestra and the multi-Juno and Grammy Award-winning musician for a...

  • James Ehnes performs some truly great performances in new Chandos album of 'Lalo, Saint-Saens & Sarasate' / the arts fuse
    Posted At: March 20, 2025
    From the arts fuse……Violinist James Ehnes and the BBC Philharmonic supply some truly great performances; violinist Benjamin Schmid revels in composer Friedrich Gulda’s freewheeling sense of play.Jonathan Blumhofer writes…..Here’s a recording of a type that doesn’t get made that much anymore — and played by just the violinist you want to hear in such fare. That would be James Ehnes, who goes to revisit some ...

  • ABC Classic - Legends presents: violinist James Ehnes
    Posted At: February 27, 2025
    ABC Classic's Mairi Nicolson writes…..Twice Grammy Award-winning Canadian American violinist and violist James Ehnes has been visiting Australia for many years, building memorable relationships with our orchestras as a soloist and chamber musician. He's very much "a musician's musician," as they say.The good news is, he's back! This month he embarked on a major Australasian tour beginning with concerts in N...

  • Ehnes Quartet set for bay area's 'Palladium Chamber Series' / CATALYST
    Posted At: November 14, 2023
    James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after violinists on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, Ehnes is a favourite guest of many of the world’s most respected conductors including Ashkenazy, Alsop, Sir Andrew Davis, Denève, Elder, Ivan Fischer, Gardner, Paavo Järvi, Mena, Noseda, Robertson and ...

  • James Ehnes and the quintessence of art at Montreal's Ladies' Morning Musical Club / The Times Hub
    Posted At: April 17, 2023
    Known for his virtuosity and probing musicianship, violinist James Ehnes has performed in over 35 countries on five continents, appearing regularly in the world's great concert halls and with many of the most celebrated orchestras and conductors. In the 2016-2017 season James continues his cross-Canada recital tour in celebration of his 40th birthday, performs the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas in ...

  • James Ehnes on Beethoven's enduring legacy and performing with the Sydney Symphony / LIMELIGHT
    Posted At: October 14, 2022
    “This is a major, major piece of the repertoire. You don’t find better music, and as big a keystone of the violin repertoire as it is, it is also just as big a piece of the orchestral repertoire.” Just like he tackles the big repertoire, James Ehnes is tackling the big questions. The celebrated Canadian violinist goes deep on Beethoven’s unique and irreplaceable violin concerto, and why he looks forward to ...

  • James Ehnes and friends, set for Valley Concert Series / THE ABBOTSFORD NEWS
    Posted At: May 22, 2022
    Violinist James Ehnes performing in Abbotsford later this month. Valley Concert Series bringing Ehnes, pair of talented colleagues to Matsqui Centennial AuditoriumTHE ABBOTSFORD NEWS - BEN LYPKA writes…..Violinist James Ehnes will be performing in concert in Abbotsford later this month.The Valley Concert Series will be presenting Ehnes, along with cellist Bion Tsang and pianist Adam Neiman, two brilliant co...

  • With COVID-19 forcing people to stay indoors, now's the time to learn how to play music / CBC
    Posted At: March 20, 2020

    With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing people to stay indoors, now is the time to tackle those projects and hobbies you've been putting off: picking up those unread books, resuming that video game you started, or cooking some recipes you've been meaning to try. Another skill worth picking up is playing music. With live music in a state of flux, it can feel difficult to connect with others through thi...

  • James Ehnes' encore w/SF Symphony was so thrilling, the audience called for another / San Francisco Chronicle
    Posted At: May 4, 2019

    When musical soloists play particularly well - and often, frankly, when they don't - the audience will generally call them back for an encore. It's much less common for an encore to be so thrilling and so magnetic that it generates an encore of its own. But that's what happened during violinist James Ehnes' guest appearance with the San Francisco Symphony on Thursday, May 2. After his per...

  • theStrad presents violin techniques with James Ehnes
    Posted At: July 6, 2018

    James Ehnes has established himself as one of the foremost violinists of his generation. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, Ehnes is a favourite guest of many of the world's most respected conductors including Ashkenazy, Alsop, Sir Andrew Davis, Denève, Dutoit, Elder, Ivan Fischer, Gardner, Paavo Järvi, Noseda, Robertson and R...

  • James Ehnes with ASO take on lesser-known Leonard Bernstein, with persuasive charm / AdelaideAdvertiser
    Posted At: April 9, 2018

    THIS first Masters Series concert of the year followed the ASO's successful Bernstein evenings during the Festival with one of Bernstein's lesser-known works taking centre stage. The Serenade for Solo Violin, Strings Harp and Percussion from 1954 is a violin concerto in all but name and violin virtuoso James Ehnes, in a welcome return, illuminated its musical curves and frankly melodic outlines with pers...

  • Watch Jan Lisiecki & James Ehnes play 4 hands on Dvorak: Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 8
    Posted At: January 5, 2018

    p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica} The Toronto Symphony Orchestra opened its 2017-18 concert season last September with a performance celebrating Canadian creativity and artistry, and it is to be Peter Oundjian's final season as Music Director. Oundjian who has curated a year of spectacular programs included Oscar-winning composer Mychael Danna for the opening, along ...

  • Get free download of James Ehnes: RLPO - Beethoven VC, compliments of Classical-Music.com
    Posted At: January 2, 2018

    This week's free download is the third movement, Rondo, of Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, performed by James Ehnes with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Manze. The disc it appears on also features Beethoven's Romances 1 & 2, as well as Schubert's Rondo in A, and received four stars for performance and five for recording in the Christmas iss...

  • TSO season launch surprises include: James Ehnes and Jan Lisiecki / BroadwayWorld
    Posted At: September 22, 2017

    A night of surprises, enthusiastic artistry and brave new compositions graced the Roy Thomson Hall Tuesday night. The TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA opened its 2017-2018 season with a program that effortlessly mingled the classical with the contemporary. This is a year of big changes for the orchestra. For the past 14 years, music director Peter Oundjian has been successfully anchoring the TSO as one of the ...

  • James Ehnes on recording the Walton Viola Concerto / TheStrad
    Posted At: August 22, 2017

    In June this year James Ehnes joined conductor Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the studio to record a concerto on his second instrument, the viola. This is an extract from a Session Report interview with James Ehnes in the September 2017 issue of the Strad. This is a piece I have loved since I was a teenager, so it is wonderful that the opportunity has come my way to record...

  • Watch James Ehnes FBLive takeover The Violin Channel from 'Bravo Vail Festival'
    Posted At: July 8, 2017

    The Violin Channel recently caught up with … wait, was recently taken over by … Canadian violinist James Ehnes – for a Facebook Livestream with his fans direct from the 2017 Bravo Vail Festival in Colorado. Ehnes recently released his debut Analekta recording, Bach: Sonatas et Partitas for solo violin, and here's what he had to say about it The works of Bach solo viol...

  • James Ehnes joins VSO for - Music from Great Britain / Vancouver Sun
    Posted At: April 20, 2017

    This year, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra broadens the focus of its spring festival to a theme: Music from Great Britain. Over the course of its almost 100-year existence, the VSO has had only two actual Brits as music directors: Meredith Davies in the 1960s and the incumbent Bramwell Tovey. No one who has given the latter's programming a close, critical look would ever accuse him of unduly pushing...

  • James Ehnes joins the VSO for British Fantasy at the Orpheum / The Georgia Straight
    Posted At: April 13, 2017

    Name one British composer operating between the 1695 death of Henry Purcell and the 1899 debut of Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations. Can't do it? Don't worry: you're not alone. But if you're looking for a crash course in the extraordinary blossoming of English music that followed Elgar's masterpiece, it would be hard to improve on the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's upcoming Spring Festival, which this yea...

  • James Ehnes, Dallas Symphony. Stellar in Kernis concerto / Texas Classical Review
    Posted At: April 8, 2017

    Aaron Jay Kernis's Violin Concerto, still hot off the press after a premiere in Toronto last month, sprawled across 25 minutes of dense orchestration and relentless virtuosity Thursday night in a performance by soloist James Ehnes and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Gustavo Gimeno. The first movement, titled Chaconne, opened with an explosion of percussion; Kernis clearl...

  • James Ehnes premiers the Kernis with Seattle Symphony / Violinist.com reviews
    Posted At: March 21, 2017

    In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world. This week one of our selections is from James Ehnes who premiered the Kernis with the Seattle Symphony. Here are a couple of reviews. The SunBreak: "...this has to count as one of the most challenging solo roles out there, and Ehnes was ...

  • James Ehnes in premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis' Violin Concerto with Seattle Symphony / Seattle Times
    Posted At: March 19, 2017

    James Ehnes underscored his reputation as one of today's finest violinists with the U.S. premiere of the new Aaron Kernis Violin Concerto on Thursday evening - the first of three Seattle Symphony performances. Lengthy, complex and assertive, the new concerto demands almost superhuman agility and stamina of Ehnes, the soloist for whom it was written, and he rose to the challenge. He is well known as a pla...

  • James Ehnes joins London's Royal Academy of Music as visiting professor / The Strad
    Posted At: March 17, 2017

    James Ehnes is to join London's Royal Academy of Music as a visiting professor of violin and will begin his role with a masterclass on 15 June 2017, broadcast live on the Academy's Facebook page. The Canadian violinist has visited the music school on a number of occasions over the past few years, giving masterclasses and a Barbirolli Lecture on his life in music. Ehnes joins a number of leading v...

  • James Ehnes - Bach: Sonatas et Partitas for Solo Violin / KDFC 'Download of the Week'
    Posted At: January 25, 2017

    Each week KDFC: San Francisco members can download a free mp3 from some of the biggest releases in the world of Classical music. This week's pick, is from Canadian violinist James Ehnes and his Analekta release - Bach: Sonatas et Partitas for solo violin. Ehnes commented that The works of Bach solo violin are very dear to me and hold a place in my concert repertoire. The registration o...

  • 4 Crossover Media artists make this week's Violinist.com - concert review
    Posted At: January 19, 2017

    In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world. This Week in Reviews, Op. 164 includes several Crossover Media Artists including: Nicola Benedetti performed the Beethoven with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra. About the concert, the Worthing Herald noted: "No bombast, no over-screwed t...
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