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James Ehnes, violin & leader
Beethoven: Septet
Sibelius: Suite for Violin & Strings
Ehnes returns to perform light music from serious composers. Written in the serenade and divertimento style, Beethoven’s Septet was one of his most popular works in its day (almost to his chagrin!). The three pastoral sketches in Sibelius’s Suite for Violin & Strings lay hidden for many years. Not often performed, they are a delight to discover.
James Ehnes, violin
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 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.
Recent orchestral highlights include the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall with Noseda, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig with Shelley, San Francisco Symphony with Janowski, Frankfurt Radio Symphony with Orozco-Estrada, London Symphony with Harding, and Munich Philharmonic with van Zweden, as well as his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Lincoln Center in spring 2019. In 2019/20, Ehnes is Artist in Residence with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which includes performances of the Elgar Concerto with Luisi, a play/direct programme leg by Ehnes, and a chamber music programme. In 2017, Ehnes premiered the Aaron-Jay Kernis Violin Concerto with the Toronto, Seattle and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, and gave further performances of the piece with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Alongside his concerto work, James Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Ravinia, Montreux, Chaise-Dieu, the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, Verbier Festival, Festival de Pâques in Aix, and in 2018 he undertook a recital tour to the Far East, including performances in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. As part of the Beethoven celebrations, Ehnes has been invited to perform the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas at the Wigmore Hall throughout 2019/20. Elsewhere Ehnes performs the Beethoven Sonatas at Dresden Music Festival, Prague Spring Festival, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, at Aspen Music Festival (as part of a multi-year residency) and at Bravo Vail Festival during his residency week also including the Violin Concerto and Triple Concerto with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Runnicles. In 2016, Ehnes undertook a cross-Canada recital tour, performing in each of the country’s provinces and territories, to celebrate his 40th birthday.
As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with leading artists such as Andsnes, Capucon, Lortie, Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Tamestit, Vogler and Yuja Wang. In 2010, he formally established the Ehnes Quartet, with whom he has performed in Europe at venues including the Wigmore Hall, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and Théâtre du Jeu de Paume in Aix, amongst others. Ehnes is the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.
Ehnes has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings, including a Grammy Award (2019) for his live recording of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Violin Concerto with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot, and a Gramophone Award for his live recording of the Elgar Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis. His recording of the Korngold, Barber and Walton violin concertos won a Grammy Award for ‘Best Instrumental Soloist Performance’ and a JUNO award for ‘Best Classical Album of the Year’. His recording of the Paganini Caprices earned him universal praise, with Diapason writing of the disc, “Ehnes confirms the predictions of Erick Friedman, eminent student of Heifetz: ‘there is only one like him born every hundred years’.” Recent releases include sonatas by Beethoven, Debussy, Elgar and Respighi, and concertos by Walton, Britten, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Strauss, as well as the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze, which was released in October 2017 (Onyx Classics).
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 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.
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Founded in 1919, the Grammy and Juno-award winning Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is the third largest orchestra in Canada, the largest arts organization in Western Canada, and one of the few orchestras in the world to have its own music school.
Led by Music Director Otto Tausk since 2018, the VSO performs more than 150 concerts each year, throughout Vancouver and the province of British Columbia, reaching over 270,000 people annually. On tour the VSO has performed in the United States, China, Korea and across Canada.
The orchestra presents passionate, high-quality performances of classical, popular and culturally diverse music, creating meaningful engagement with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Recent guest artists include Daniil Trifonov, Dawn Upshaw, James Ehnes, Adrianne Pieczonka, Gidon Kremer, Renée Fleming, Yefim Bronfman, Itzhak Perlman, Bernadette Peters, Tan Dun, and more.
For the 2020-21 season the VSO has created the innovative streaming service TheConcertHall.ca, a virtual home for a virtual season, where more than forty performances will be released throughout the season.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
b. Bonn, Germany / baptized December 17, 1770
d. Vienna, Austria / March 26, 1827
Septet for Winds & Strings in E-Flat Major, Op. 20
If you were to assess Ludwig van Beethoven’s character based solely on one of his most popular works, you could be assume he was a cheerful and optimistic man whose music conveyed the charm and elegance of Mozart. Where is the defiant radical, the messy-haired musical curmudgeon shaking a defiant fist at the gods of fate? Where is the caricature of the noisy neighbour of Beethoven Lives Upstairs fame? At the turn of the 19th century Beethoven was already breaking new musical ground. However, it is this Septet for Winds and Strings in E Flat Major, a diversion written to please, impress and entertain Viennese society, that became his most popular work during his lifetime.
Beethoven was just shy of his 30th birthday when the Septet was first performed on April 2, 1800, at the Royal Imperial Court Theatre in Vienna. It was dedicated to the Empress Maria Theresa, the second wife of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. Italian by birth, she enjoyed courtly life in Vienna, particularly waltzing and dancing. So, what better way for Beethoven to impress the elite members of Viennese society than to produce an easy on the ears serenade that echoed his classical predecessors. The concert, staged to raise money and introduce new works by Beethoven, also featured his Symphony No. 1, a piano concerto, an improvisation by the composer and music by Haydn and Mozart.
The Septet caught the attention of the musical public. Soon there were arrangements of it for all manner of instruments, from piano solo to a full-scale Harmonie (wind ensemble) version. Beethoven himself saw no reason to miss out catering to the hunger of amateur musicians. He scaled down his original setting to be performed by clarinet (or violin), cello, and piano. Beethoven endured demands for more music in the same style, with increasing frustration. Fifteen years after its premiere, people still clamoured for the Septet, leading Beethoven to declare, “That damn work, I wish it could be burned.”
But what’s not to like. The combination of clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, and double bass provides a rich sound pallete. The violinist at the premiere was the virtuoso Ignaz Schuppanzigh, so there are plenty of passages with a concerto-like flair. The clarinetist, too, has a starring role opposite the violin. The inclusion of a double bass frees up both the bassoon and the cello to soar to their higher registers. As a musical calling card Beethoven hit the jackpot, much to his chagrin. But the public continues to be all the happier for it.
Program Notes by Matthew Baird.
VIOLIN
James Ehnes
VIOLA
Emilie Grimes, Acting Associate Principal
CELLO
Henry Shapard, Principal - Nezhat and Hassan Khosrowshahi Chair
BASS
Evan Hulbert, Associate Principal
CLARINET
Jeanette Jonquil, Principal - Taryn Brodie Chair
BASSOON
Julia Lockhart, Principal
HORN
Oliver de Clercq, Acting Principal
JEAN SIBELIUS
b. Hämeenlinna, Finland / December 8, 1865
d. Ainola, Finland / September 20, 1957
Suite for Violin and String Orchestra, Op. 117
From an early age, Jean Sibelius fancied himself a great violinist. On his 10th birthday he received his first violin as a gift from his uncle. He was enthusiastic, but largely self-taught, and didn’t have a formal lesson before he was 15. By the age of 25, he was still determined to play with the Vienna Philharmonic. However, his audition elicited a cutting response: “Mr. Sibelius, please go and compose.”
“My tragedy,” said Sibelius, “was that I wanted to be a celebrated violinist at any price. Since the age of 15 I played my violin practically from morning to night. I hated pen and ink — unfortunately I preferred an elegant violin bow. My love for the violin lasted quite long and it was a very painful awakening when I had to admit that I had begun my training for the exacting career of a virtuoso too late.“
Sibelius never lost his appreciation for the instrument and produced several scores for violin and orchestra, including his magnificent Violin Concerto, a pair of Serenades, two shorter pieces, and a series of Humoresques. It was in 1929 that Sibelius completed the three movement Suite for Violin and String Orchestra. He assigned the opus number of 117 to the manuscript, and sent it off to the publisher, Carl Fischer, in New York City. Fischer apparently responded with a polite note. “We must inform you that in view of the extremely unfortunate constellation in the music publishing field in the United States, it seems to us inadvisable at the present time to publish compositions of the high standard which you have submitted to us. The market is very unfavourable for this class of music and we are compelled to return them to you with our regrets.”
The reason for the publisher’s reluctance may have been purely financial – remember the great stock market crash occurred in October of that year – but Sibelius was understandably rattled by the refusal. He is said to have had a nervous disposition to begin with. He was prone to bouts of depression, was frequently in debt, and suffered from chronic alcoholism. With his confidence rattled, the overly self-critical composer marked the score with the words “Sketch. Not to be Published,” and set it aside. Years later, Sibelius filled a laundry basket with his manuscripts, carried them into the kitchen of his country home and fed them, page by page, into the stove. Fortunately, the Suite was spared that fiery fate. It re-emerged in the 1980s, was premiered by soloist John Storgårds on the 125th anniversary of the composer’s birth, and finally published in 1995. The movement titles are indicative of the pastoral and charming nature of this Suite.
Program Notes by Matthew Baird.
VIOLIN SOLOIST & LEADER
James Ehnes
VIOLIN I
Nicholas Wright, Concertmaster - Ron and Ardelle Cliff Chair
Timothy Steeves, Associate Concertmaster - William and Irene McEwen Chair
David Lakirovich, Assistant Concertmaster - Robert G. and Suzanne Brodie Chair
Xue Feng Wei
Rebecca Whitling
Yi Zhou
VIOLIN II
Karen Gerbrecht, Acting Principal
Jeanette Bernal-Singh, Acting Associate Principal - Jim and Edith le Nobel Chair
Ashley Plaut, Acting Assistant Principal
Cassandra Bequary
Adrian Shu-On Chui
Carina Vincenti
VIOLA
Andrew Brown, Acting Principal
Katrina Chitty
Jacob van der Sloot
Isabelle Roland *
CELLO
Janet Steinberg, Associate Principal
Zoltan Rozsnyai, Assistant Principal
Olivia Blander - Gerhard and Ariane Bruendl Chair
Natasha Boyko - Mary and Gordon Christopher Chair
BASS
Dylan Palmer, Principal
Malcolm Armstrong
James Ehnes, violin & leader
Beethoven: Septet
Sibelius: Suite for Violin & Strings
Ehnes returns to perform light music from serious composers. Written in the serenade and divertimento style, Beethoven’s Septet was one of his most popular works in its day (almost to his chagrin!). The three pastoral sketches in Sibelius’s Suite for Violin & Strings lay hidden for many years. Not often performed, they are a delight to discover.
James Ehnes, violin
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 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.
Recent orchestral highlights include the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall with Noseda, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig with Shelley, San Francisco Symphony with Janowski, Frankfurt Radio Symphony with Orozco-Estrada, London Symphony with Harding, and Munich Philharmonic with van Zweden, as well as his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Lincoln Center in spring 2019. In 2019/20, Ehnes is Artist in Residence with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which includes performances of the Elgar Concerto with Luisi, a play/direct programme leg by Ehnes, and a chamber music programme. In 2017, Ehnes premiered the Aaron-Jay Kernis Violin Concerto with the Toronto, Seattle and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, and gave further performances of the piece with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Alongside his concerto work, James Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Ravinia, Montreux, Chaise-Dieu, the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, Verbier Festival, Festival de Pâques in Aix, and in 2018 he undertook a recital tour to the Far East, including performances in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. As part of the Beethoven celebrations, Ehnes has been invited to perform the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas at the Wigmore Hall throughout 2019/20. Elsewhere Ehnes performs the Beethoven Sonatas at Dresden Music Festival, Prague Spring Festival, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, at Aspen Music Festival (as part of a multi-year residency) and at Bravo Vail Festival during his residency week also including the Violin Concerto and Triple Concerto with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Runnicles. In 2016, Ehnes undertook a cross-Canada recital tour, performing in each of the country’s provinces and territories, to celebrate his 40th birthday.
As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with leading artists such as Andsnes, Capucon, Lortie, Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Tamestit, Vogler and Yuja Wang. In 2010, he formally established the Ehnes Quartet, with whom he has performed in Europe at venues including the Wigmore Hall, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and Théâtre du Jeu de Paume in Aix, amongst others. Ehnes is the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.
Ehnes has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings, including a Grammy Award (2019) for his live recording of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Violin Concerto with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot, and a Gramophone Award for his live recording of the Elgar Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis. His recording of the Korngold, Barber and Walton violin concertos won a Grammy Award for ‘Best Instrumental Soloist Performance’ and a JUNO award for ‘Best Classical Album of the Year’. His recording of the Paganini Caprices earned him universal praise, with Diapason writing of the disc, “Ehnes confirms the predictions of Erick Friedman, eminent student of Heifetz: ‘there is only one like him born every hundred years’.” Recent releases include sonatas by Beethoven, Debussy, Elgar and Respighi, and concertos by Walton, Britten, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Strauss, as well as the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Manze, which was released in October 2017 (Onyx Classics).
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 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.
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Founded in 1919, the Grammy and Juno-award winning Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is the third largest orchestra in Canada, the largest arts organization in Western Canada, and one of the few orchestras in the world to have its own music school.
Led by Music Director Otto Tausk since 2018, the VSO performs more than 150 concerts each year, throughout Vancouver and the province of British Columbia, reaching over 270,000 people annually. On tour the VSO has performed in the United States, China, Korea and across Canada.
The orchestra presents passionate, high-quality performances of classical, popular and culturally diverse music, creating meaningful engagement with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Recent guest artists include Daniil Trifonov, Dawn Upshaw, James Ehnes, Adrianne Pieczonka, Gidon Kremer, Renée Fleming, Yefim Bronfman, Itzhak Perlman, Bernadette Peters, Tan Dun, and more.
For the 2020-21 season the VSO has created the innovative streaming service TheConcertHall.ca, a virtual home for a virtual season, where more than forty performances will be released throughout the season.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
b. Bonn, Germany / baptized December 17, 1770
d. Vienna, Austria / March 26, 1827
Septet for Winds & Strings in E-Flat Major, Op. 20
If you were to assess Ludwig van Beethoven’s character based solely on one of his most popular works, you could be assume he was a cheerful and optimistic man whose music conveyed the charm and elegance of Mozart. Where is the defiant radical, the messy-haired musical curmudgeon shaking a defiant fist at the gods of fate? Where is the caricature of the noisy neighbour of Beethoven Lives Upstairs fame? At the turn of the 19th century Beethoven was already breaking new musical ground. However, it is this Septet for Winds and Strings in E Flat Major, a diversion written to please, impress and entertain Viennese society, that became his most popular work during his lifetime.
Beethoven was just shy of his 30th birthday when the Septet was first performed on April 2, 1800, at the Royal Imperial Court Theatre in Vienna. It was dedicated to the Empress Maria Theresa, the second wife of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. Italian by birth, she enjoyed courtly life in Vienna, particularly waltzing and dancing. So, what better way for Beethoven to impress the elite members of Viennese society than to produce an easy on the ears serenade that echoed his classical predecessors. The concert, staged to raise money and introduce new works by Beethoven, also featured his Symphony No. 1, a piano concerto, an improvisation by the composer and music by Haydn and Mozart.
The Septet caught the attention of the musical public. Soon there were arrangements of it for all manner of instruments, from piano solo to a full-scale Harmonie (wind ensemble) version. Beethoven himself saw no reason to miss out catering to the hunger of amateur musicians. He scaled down his original setting to be performed by clarinet (or violin), cello, and piano. Beethoven endured demands for more music in the same style, with increasing frustration. Fifteen years after its premiere, people still clamoured for the Septet, leading Beethoven to declare, “That damn work, I wish it could be burned.”
But what’s not to like. The combination of clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, and double bass provides a rich sound pallete. The violinist at the premiere was the virtuoso Ignaz Schuppanzigh, so there are plenty of passages with a concerto-like flair. The clarinetist, too, has a starring role opposite the violin. The inclusion of a double bass frees up both the bassoon and the cello to soar to their higher registers. As a musical calling card Beethoven hit the jackpot, much to his chagrin. But the public continues to be all the happier for it.
Program Notes by Matthew Baird.
VIOLIN
James Ehnes
VIOLA
Emilie Grimes, Acting Associate Principal
CELLO
Henry Shapard, Principal - Nezhat and Hassan Khosrowshahi Chair
BASS
Evan Hulbert, Associate Principal
CLARINET
Jeanette Jonquil, Principal - Taryn Brodie Chair
BASSOON
Julia Lockhart, Principal
HORN
Oliver de Clercq, Acting Principal
JEAN SIBELIUS
b. Hämeenlinna, Finland / December 8, 1865
d. Ainola, Finland / September 20, 1957
Suite for Violin and String Orchestra, Op. 117
From an early age, Jean Sibelius fancied himself a great violinist. On his 10th birthday he received his first violin as a gift from his uncle. He was enthusiastic, but largely self-taught, and didn’t have a formal lesson before he was 15. By the age of 25, he was still determined to play with the Vienna Philharmonic. However, his audition elicited a cutting response: “Mr. Sibelius, please go and compose.”
“My tragedy,” said Sibelius, “was that I wanted to be a celebrated violinist at any price. Since the age of 15 I played my violin practically from morning to night. I hated pen and ink — unfortunately I preferred an elegant violin bow. My love for the violin lasted quite long and it was a very painful awakening when I had to admit that I had begun my training for the exacting career of a virtuoso too late.“
Sibelius never lost his appreciation for the instrument and produced several scores for violin and orchestra, including his magnificent Violin Concerto, a pair of Serenades, two shorter pieces, and a series of Humoresques. It was in 1929 that Sibelius completed the three movement Suite for Violin and String Orchestra. He assigned the opus number of 117 to the manuscript, and sent it off to the publisher, Carl Fischer, in New York City. Fischer apparently responded with a polite note. “We must inform you that in view of the extremely unfortunate constellation in the music publishing field in the United States, it seems to us inadvisable at the present time to publish compositions of the high standard which you have submitted to us. The market is very unfavourable for this class of music and we are compelled to return them to you with our regrets.”
The reason for the publisher’s reluctance may have been purely financial – remember the great stock market crash occurred in October of that year – but Sibelius was understandably rattled by the refusal. He is said to have had a nervous disposition to begin with. He was prone to bouts of depression, was frequently in debt, and suffered from chronic alcoholism. With his confidence rattled, the overly self-critical composer marked the score with the words “Sketch. Not to be Published,” and set it aside. Years later, Sibelius filled a laundry basket with his manuscripts, carried them into the kitchen of his country home and fed them, page by page, into the stove. Fortunately, the Suite was spared that fiery fate. It re-emerged in the 1980s, was premiered by soloist John Storgårds on the 125th anniversary of the composer’s birth, and finally published in 1995. The movement titles are indicative of the pastoral and charming nature of this Suite.
Program Notes by Matthew Baird.
VIOLIN SOLOIST & LEADER
James Ehnes
VIOLIN I
Nicholas Wright, Concertmaster - Ron and Ardelle Cliff Chair
Timothy Steeves, Associate Concertmaster - William and Irene McEwen Chair
David Lakirovich, Assistant Concertmaster - Robert G. and Suzanne Brodie Chair
Xue Feng Wei
Rebecca Whitling
Yi Zhou
VIOLIN II
Karen Gerbrecht, Acting Principal
Jeanette Bernal-Singh, Acting Associate Principal - Jim and Edith le Nobel Chair
Ashley Plaut, Acting Assistant Principal
Cassandra Bequary
Adrian Shu-On Chui
Carina Vincenti
VIOLA
Andrew Brown, Acting Principal
Katrina Chitty
Jacob van der Sloot
Isabelle Roland *
CELLO
Janet Steinberg, Associate Principal
Zoltan Rozsnyai, Assistant Principal
Olivia Blander - Gerhard and Ariane Bruendl Chair
Natasha Boyko - Mary and Gordon Christopher Chair
BASS
Dylan Palmer, Principal
Malcolm Armstrong
