Artistic Partner
James 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 unfaltering musicality, James is a favorite guest at the world’s most celebrated concert halls.
Recent and upcoming orchestral highlights include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra.
A devoted chamber musician, James is the artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society and the leader of the Ehnes Quartet. As a recitalist, he performs regularly at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Verbier Festival, Dresden Music Festival and Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence.
During the 2025-26 season, James will embark on his 50th birthday recital tour in his native Canada, with performances in every province and territory.
James has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings, including two Grammys, three Gramophone Awards and 12 Juno Awards—the most of any classical musician in history. In 2021, James was announced as the recipient of the coveted Artist of the Year award at the 2021 Gramophone Classical Music Awards, which celebrated his recent contributions to the recording industry, including the launch of the new online recital series Recitals from Home, which was released in June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of concert halls. James recorded the six Bach sonatas and partitas and six sonatas of Ysaÿe from his home with state-of-the-art recording equipment and released six episodes over the period of two months. These recordings have been met with great critical acclaim by audiences worldwide and James was described by Le Devoir as being “at the absolute forefront of the streaming evolution.”
James began violin studies at the age of 5, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin at 9 and made his orchestral debut with L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at 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. Since 2024, he has been a professor of violin at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
James plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.
August 2025