Ehnes Quartet. Music TORONTO presentation. Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13; Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters;” Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59, No. 1. At the Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front Street East. September 30, 7:30 p.m. Tickets here.
Ehnes Explained
“It’s been one of the great joys of my life having my quartet,” admits James Ehnes when asked to reflect on his experiences as head of his own chamber group.
The Brandon, Manitoba born violinist and violist, a multiple GRAMMY and JUNO award winner who loves playing and programming smaller musical groups, is also a virtuoso, garnering international acclaim as a soloist with such prestigious ensembles as the Chicago Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the National Arts Orchestra in Ottawa, the Orchestre National de Lyon, and the Montreal Symphony.
A longtime member of the Order of Canada, Ehnes will be leading his quartet for the first time in Toronto at the inaugural event for Music TORONTO’s Chamber Music 2025/26 Season.
The Musical Program
An articulate spokesperson for classical ensembles, and the artistic director for the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s twice-yearly festivals, Ehnes is pleased to discuss the pieces his quartet will perform in Toronto.
“It’s a program of three compositions that are in different stages within our repertoire,” he says.
“The Beethoven, (No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1) is one of the core pieces for us. The Beethoven quartets are a focal point of our quartet. We’re most of the way through our recorded cycle.”
The Ehnes Quartet has notably recorded Beethoven’s string quartets from Op. 74 onwards, releasing four albums on the Onyx Classics label.
Ehnes goes on, “We’ve done the Beethoven in performance a number of times. It is very, very special to us individually, but for our group too. It’s a bit of a signature piece.”
While the Beethoven piece is a much-lauded work, performed by many over the decades, such is not the case with Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet #2. More famous for such operas as Jenufa and The Cunning Little Vixen, Janáček’s very personal “Intimate Letters” is, “a project we came to a couple years ago,” Ehnes says.
“It’s a piece that was not published until well after it was written. By that point, it had been modified with only the best intentions, but it had strayed pretty far from the composition. When Janáček’s manuscript was finally made widely available within the last 15 years, there were a lot of surprises. We have come up with our own version of the quartet based on the original manuscript that is in some ways pretty radically different from the version that people are used to hearing. That’s been a really fun project for us.”
Mendelssohn’s String Quartet #2 is one of the composer’s early successes, written when he was only 18.
Recounts Ehnes, “It is actually one of the newer pieces in our repertoire. We just started playing it this past summer. Originally, we were going to play a different piece but before Roman (Music TORONTO’s director Roman Borys) went to print, we asked if we could play it instead. You hope that when you play a concert that your level of enthusiasm is really at its peak. We were too excited about the Mendelssohn not to ask Roman, and he graciously allowed us to do it.”
The Ehnes Quartet
The personable Ehnes is happy to talk about his ensemble.
“It’s been really one of the great joys of my life having my quartet for the last 15 years. They are three of my closest friends. Amy (Shwartz Moretti), the other violinist, and I have known each other since we were teenagers. We went to summer camp together. Ed (Arron), the cellist, and I met at Juilliard, so that’s going back 30 years. With Che-Yen (Chen), the violist, it’s been close to 20 years that we’ve been friends and playing music together.”
Ehnes’s musical colleagues have achieved much in their careers. Chen is Professor of Viola Performance and Chamber Music at UCLA. He was a founding member of the award-winning Formosa Quartet and served as the principal violist of the San Diego Symphony for eight years.
Moretti is the current Caroline Paul King Chair in Strings at Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music. Arron is the co-artistic director of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the acclaimed Clark Art Institute in Williamston, Massachusetts.
Says Ehnes, “Even if we hated each other, the musical fulfillment is so special working with these amazing musicians, that it would be worth it. But, of course, that’s not the case!
Even if we never played another note, I know we would all hang out together anyway. Our families are close. We talk about the quartet family and that’s all of us — our spouses and our children. Having those two elements come together, the music and friendships — each one makes the other half of the equation more special.
“In terms of musical storytelling, we hear music and understand it in the same way. We are definitely individuals. I feel that we bring the best of ourselves into the group. Ideally, one would hope that a great chamber ensemble is like the old expression of the total being greater than the sum of its parts. That’s certainly what we aspire to.”
The Seattle Chamber Music Festivals
The Ehnes Quartet play as many as six mini tours a year as well as getting together twice annually for the Seattle Chamber Music winter and summer festivals.
For Ehnes, Seattle has become a musical home over the past 31 years. He’s been running the festivals since 2012. Admits Ehnes, “That’s a lot of years of putting together programs and inviting a lot of musicians. It’s been incredibly rewarding. I try not to get super complicated with it. I try to think, ‘would I go to this concert?’
“There are hundreds of concerts that I’ve programmed where I’ve selected all the artists, and the repertoire. Every one of them, I was excited for it because I thought this is music that has something really wonderful to say. It remains really one of the greatest joys in my life.
“The organization has been experiencing really tremendous growth over the last number of years. I really consider us to be the most exceptional chamber music creators in maybe the world. We have an incredible team.”
Playing with Pianist Andrew Armstrong
The ever-busy Ehnes has often toured with acclaimed pianist Andrew Armstrong in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
The duo has recorded the 10 Beethoven Violin Sonatas along with albums featuring sonatas by Franck and Strauss, Elgar, Debussy, and Respighi, and most recently, Brahms and Schumann.
Ehnes says, “One of the great highlights of the many years we’ve been working together was when I turned 40, we did a tour across Canada. We did recitals in every province and territory — at least 25 — back in 2016. Next year when I turn 50, we’re going to do it again. I’m really looking forward to that. Andy is a beautiful musician, a fabulous pianist and just a great, great guy.”
Ehnes’s “ex-Marsick” Stradivarius
Besides his wife and children, James Ehnes has one other major relationship which those who enjoy his music would love to explore: that of his 1715 “ex-Marsick” Stradivarius. Asked to comment about his violin, Ehnes’s reply is thoughtful and clear.
“I’ve been very lucky to have been playing on this violin for over 25 years, and I am continually inspired by the possibilities that it offers. It sounds wonderful. That’s obviously a huge part of it. There are a lot of violins that sound quite nice and that’s great. But it’s rare to have a violin or any instrument where every time you play it, you feel like it’s pushing you to find something a little bit more beautiful or refined or expressive — to be a more compelling storyteller. That’s what distinguishes the greatest instruments.
“Even after all this time, I feel that I can play my violin a little bit more beautifully or find a little bit more reinforcement in the bottom end or brilliance in the top or a different color or shade. It’s really been an incredible journey with this great violin. I think that’s something that really defines the great Stradivari instruments in particular.”
For the first time, Ehnes, his Strad and Quartet will play on Tuesday night in Toronto. It should be a memorable occasion.
By Marc Glassman for Ludwig-Van.
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