One of the world’s most sought-after violinists, James Ehnes will give a special virtual masterclass as Brandon University’s Francis Chaplin Guest Professor of Violin this coming Sunday, April 18. During the masterclass, violin students of Professor Kerry DuWors will perform works by Mozart, Bruch, Wieniawski and Tchaikovsky.
“This live-streamed masterclass is the perfect way to celebrate the year’s successes of navigating learning through the pandemic,” DuWors said. “We are incredibly grateful that James, famously from Brandon and with deep connections to BU, will join us for this virtual masterclass.”
While an in-person masterclass would be limited by the space available, the virtual nature of this event means that it can be opened for viewers via Zoom. The masterclass is scheduled for 9:30–11:30 a.m. on Sunday, and interested members of the public can get the Zoom link by emailing BU Dean of Music Greg Gatien at GatienG@BrandonU.ca.
“The Ehnes family is forever linked to the School of Music. In addition to being one of the world’s top recording artists, James occupies a very special place in our heart,” Gatien said. “It’s particularly touching to us that James is donating his fee for this masterclass to the scholarship that has been created in honor of his father, our former colleague, treasured friend, and renowned professor of trumpet Alan Ehnes.”
Gatien invited others wishing to support the scholarship to contact the BU Foundation at BrandonU.ca/Give.
Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, James 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 Runnicles. Ehnes’s long list of orchestras includes, amongst others, the Boston, Chicago, London, NHK and Vienna Symphony Orchestras, the Los Angeles, New York, Munich and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Philharmonia and DSO Berlin orchestras.
Ehnes began violin studies at the age of five, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin aged nine, and made his orchestra debut with L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal aged 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 has received 11 Juno Awards and two Grammy Awards. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 2010 was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. Ehnes was awarded the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the Instrumentalist category.
James Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.
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