The Artists

James Ehnes

Andrew Armstrong

James Ehnes

James Ehnes began playing violin by the age of five. He won numerous competitions in Canada as a teen and, in 2001, he won the Juno Award for best classical album. In January 2002 Ehnes was named Young Artist of the Year at the Cannes Classical Awards. Ehnes graduated from the Juilliard School in 1997 where he studied under Sally Thomas and is now an international performer and a prolific recording artist (with a total of 21 recordings as of 2007). He plays on a 1715 "Ex Marsick" Stradivarius which belongs to the Fulton Collection.

His recording of Paganini's "24 Caprices," made for Telarc in 1995, was acclaimed as a fine recording of this set of incredibly difficult pieces. In 2005, he was awarded a prestigious Avery Fischer Career Grant and in 2007 he received a Juno for classical album of the year in the category of large ensemble or soloist(s) with large ensemble accompaniment for Mozart: Violin Concerti -- James Ehnes/ Mozart Anniversary Orchestra CBC.

Ehnes's 2007 recording of Elgar's Violin Concerto was characterized by the classical music magazine Gramophone as "a performance guaranteed to make you fall in love all over again with this sublime music." In January 2008, Gramophone designated the recording as an "editor's choice," commenting that it "can only boost Ehnes's standing as one of the most gifted and charismatic fiddlers around." In February, Ehnes won a Grammy Award in the best instrumental soloist(s) performance (with orchestra) category for his Barber/Korngold/Walton: Violin Concertos album.

Andrew Armstrong

Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, Armstrong has delighted audiences around the world. He has performed solo recitals and with orchestras in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States, including performances at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Kennedy Center, and Warsaw's National Philharmonic. In chamber music, he has performed with the Alexander, American, and Manhattan Quartets, as well as with Itzhak Perlman.

Having performed over 30 concertos with orchestra, Armstrong has impressed his international audiences with a large repertoire ranging from Bach to the present. Before beginning his career as a concert pianist, Armstrong received over 25 national and international first prizes. In 1996, he was named Gilmore Young Artist. At the 1993 Van Cliburn Competition, where he was the youngest pianist entered, he received the Jury Discretionary Award.

A personable young talent with wide cultural and human interests, Andrew Armstrong is devoted to outreach programs and donates a part of his busy concert schedule to playing for children. His CD, which includes Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Sonata and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" was released in 2004.