Canadian violinist James Ehnes turns 50 this year, and he’s celebrating with a mammoth tour that will encompass all 10 provinces and three territories during the course of 2026. The tour kicks off on May 1 in Kingston, Ontario, and will take him to Ottawa on May 3, London on May 4, and Niagara-on-the-Lake on May 5, then heading west to Saskatoon on May 6, and wrap up in Winnipeg on May 8.
That’s just the first leg of his Canadian odyssey, however. He’ll then continue in Seattle, WA, completing the first leg of his birthday tour. For the summer, he’ll be touring Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, coming back to Canada for the second leg in the fall. And, he’s just completed his 50th anniversary recital tour of the UK.
James’s hometown of Brandon, Manitoba, ecently announced it will create an honorary street in his name called James Ehnes Way.
Music Director Thomas Søndergård led the Minnesota Orchestra with soloist James Ehnes in this performance on January 10, 2026:
James Ehnes
James Ehnes plays the violin and viola. A dedicated chamber musician as well as soloist, he is the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society, and he leads the Ehnes Quartet. He was named Artist of Year at the 2021 Gramophone Awards.
James began his study of the violin at the age of five. By age nine, he was studying with Francis Chaplin, a noted Canadian violinist who had a long career as concertmaster, soloist, and educator. At 13, James made his orchestral debut with L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
Ehnes continued his music studies at the Meadowmount School of Music, and later The Juilliard School, where he won the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music on his graduation in 1997.
With a combination of technical mastery and interpretive gifts, Ehnes has built a unique career that spans the globe. He is a sought after recitalist and soloist, and performs regularly at venues and events such as Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Verbier Festival, Dresden Music Festival, and Festival de Pâques in Aix.
His 2025/26 season includes performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony, LA Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra.
Ehnes’ contributions to the field of music and beyond have been recognized with numerous distinctions. 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. He is also a Professor of Violin at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
Ehnes is a prolific recording artist. The most recent are J. S. Bach: The Complete Violin Concertos with the National Arts Centre Orchestra on the Analekta label (2025), and French Works for Violin and Orchestra with the BBC Philharmonic and Juanjo Mena, conductor on Chandos Records (2025). He recorded another three releases in 2024: Ehnes & Armstrong play Brahms & Schumann, with pianist Andrew Armstrong (Onyx Classics); Sibelius: Works for Violin & Orchestra with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner, conductor (Chandos); and Williams: Violin Concerto No. 1 & Bernstein: Serenade with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Stéphane Denève, conductor (Pentatone).
His award haul includes two GRAMMYs, three Gramophone Awards and 12 JUNO Awards, the most of any classical musician in history.
Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.
Recorded on Dec 5, 2020 with NACO Live and James Ehnes as the guest artist playing the solo Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61:
James Ehnes: The Tour
He’ll be accompanied by pianist Andrew Armstrong, a frequent collaborator, for his recital dates.
In fall 2026, he’ll be back in Canada in September to head to West for performances in Sechelt, Vancouver, Edmonton, Banff, Kelowna, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Calgary, and Regina. October sees him at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, then on to Picton in Prince Edward County, east to Montréal, Québec, north to Iqualit in Nunavut, then Charlottetown, St. John’s, Halifax, and finally Sackville, New Brunswick.
In addition, he’ll be appearing with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and maestro Alexander Shelley in what may be his last performance as their Music Director on July 2 in Ottawa to play Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor, and with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, from November 26 to 29.
James Ehnes’ 50th Canada Birthday Tour:
- May 1: Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts, Kingston, Ontario
- May 3: Southam Hall, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- May 4: Wolf Performance Hall, London, Ontario, Canada
- May 5: Bravo! Niagara, St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada
- May 8: Knox United Church, Winnipeg, Canada
His program on tour will include:
- Christian Sinding: Collection of Songs for Violin and Piano, op. 11
- Johannes Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, op. 108
- Carmen Braden: Imaginal for violin and piano
- Béla Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1, BB94a, Sz. 86
Carmen Braden’s Imaginal for violin and piano was commissioned by the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (lead commissioner), the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Bravo Niagara, Calgary Pro Musica, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Cecilia Concerts, Chamber Music Kelowna, Club musical de Québec, Coast Recital Society—Sechelt, Edmonton Chamber Music Society, The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Mount Allison University, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Scotia Festival of Music, Symphony Nova Scotia, and Whitehorse Concerts.
Braden writes,
“I wrote “Imaginal” for violinist James Ehnes as he turns 50, travels Canada and the world to play beautiful music. Cuz if there’s anything that’ll hold us together in this crazy world, it’s music, friends, and caterpillars.
“How caterpillars become butterflies is crazier and more inspirational than I ever knew! Their bodies disintegrate inside the cocoon into a kind of goo and then are rebuilt into a new form that is bewilderingly different than the old. Special cells called “imaginal” cells are the catalysts for this transformation. They lie dormant in the caterpillar until the right phase of metamorphosis, then become the blueprints and building blocks forming the new butterfly wings, body, legs, antennae out of the caterpillar goo. How cool is that. So coo. Goo.
“The universal idea is that we all have our future potentials dormant inside us. And when something catalyzes a major transformation, there is a dissolving of the old which is often hard and we fight against it. But then the incredible and tough and beautiful and surprising rebuilding happens. It is super humanly-relatable to being in a mid-life crisis! – or any kind of big life change… I learned about imaginal cells while I turned 40 last year and am working through a now years-long disintegration and rebuilding of my musical directions.
“Musically in “Imaginal” there is a core melody woven throughout the piece that goes through many takings-apart and putting-back-togethers. The melody is from a song I wrote in the early writing stages to get me started.”
James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong, Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5:
Canadian Tour Details
- For his May concerts in Canada and beyond, find details and links to tickets [HERE].
- Find details and links to tickets for his Koerner Hall recital on October 2, 2026 [HERE].
- Find details and links to tickets for his concert with the National Arts Centre Orchestra on July 2, 2026 [HERE].
- Find details and links to tickets for his concert with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, November 26 to 29, 2026, [HERE].
- Many of the fall tour dates have not yet been announced; keep your eye on James’ website under “performances” [HERE].
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