Acclaimed violinist at SSO opener
James Ehnes can’t remember which year he won his Grammy award (2008), but he does remember that the cocktail waitress in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel didn’t believe it.
The acclaimed Canadian violinist was out celebrating on the Saturday night (only a few Grammys are awarded at the main show on Sunday) when his father in-law tried to brag him up.
“My son in-law just won a Grammy,” he said. The waitress “looked at me with a look that said ‘no you didn’t’ and said ‘that’s nice,’ and just walked away. I understand from her perspective, ‘the Grammys are tomorrow, no, you’re not fooling me.’ But it was a funny thing,” Ehnes recalls.
He also happens to have won an unbelievable number of Juno awards (nine) in a storied career. It all started in Brandon where he grew up.
“Brandon University was a huge factor in my life. My dad was for many years the trumpet professor; there so members of the faculty were like my extended family so that was a great thing. It’s always special for me to get back to the Prairies,” says Ehnes.
He helps launch the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra’s season on Saturday, performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61. He calls that piece one of the great cornerstones of our musical culture.
“If it were the only piece written for the violin, that would still be a good reason to play the violin. That’s a piece I’ve played for many, many years and has an important role in my life, so it’s exciting to get to play it in Saskatoon for and with friends. It’s one of my favourite pieces to play and I’m always honoured to get the opportunity.”
Ehnes hasn’t played with the symphony for some 15 years. When you see his schedule, you understand why. He lives in South Florida
(his area was virtually unscathed by hurricane Irma) and in the past 12 months he’s visited 11 countries: China, Korea, Germany, the U.S., Switzerland and on and on. He travels for work, of course, but also to visit friends he wouldn’t get to see otherwise and to take advantage of the opportunity to see the world.
“I’ve been doing this long enough that I can really determine the trajectory of a given season,” he says. “When you’re just getting started, if someone says we’d like to pay you to play a concert, you’re like ‘Yes! When? Where?’ But to be able to look through my calendar and see that there is a reason for every concert that I’m doing, and to have something particularly to look forward to, whether it’s musically or socially or the opportunity of travelling to that place or all of those things, that’s a nice feeling. That’s what I enjoy the most other than of course just getting to play the music — that’s the greatest joy of my job.”
Ehnes performs on the Marsick Stradivarius of 1715, valued in the millions. He’s used it since 1999 and calls it a very old friend, one that inspires him to play his best.
“It pushes me to be more beautiful and more communicative with the music. To work very closely with any piece of equipment, you want to know it really, really well,” he says.
“That’s the advantage of having a long-term relationship with your instrument. Every instrument has such unique subtleties and you can spend a lifetime figuring out how to achieve what you’re trying to achieve. It’s a great violin and a great joy to get to play it.”