It would be customary for a performer of James Ehnes’s stature—internationally touring and highly in-demand, with four records released in 2024, residencies in Australia and Seattle, and a recent credit on a “Star Wars” miniseries—to be precious with their time. And those who have heard, whether on record or live, his ability to imbue and maintain within a piece of music a swaggering intensity and muscular resonance, might expect someone infused with the affects of virtuosity. Yet those who meet him unfailingly find him warm, open, and generous in conversation.
That was the case recently, when we met in Birmingham, on the eve of a benefit concert for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, at which he performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, with the CBSO under conductor Kazuki Yamada.
We met in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, across the street from the Symphony Hall, where Ehnes appeared in a navy blazer over a white and black checkered shirt. He had recently turned 49, but in his mannerisms, energy, and even look, he might have been 15 years younger. His hair, which carried a touch of grey, was flared in a boyish cowlick. Inside the blue, leather-trimmed violin case slung over his shoulder was his 1715 “Marsick” Stradivarius. I asked him if carrying around such a treasure was, at times, like having an albatross around his neck.
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