Violinist James Ehnes to Join the Indiana University Jacobs School Faculty

October 13, 2023, 1:22 PM · Violinist James Ehnes will join the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, effective August 2024.

Violinist James Ehnes. Photo by Benjamin Ealovega.

"I’m deeply honored to be involved with this legendary institution, and look forward to adding my insights and experience to its rich traditions," Ehnes said on his Facebook page. "Space in my class will be extremely limited. Please contact the Jacobs School of Music for more information at musicadm@indiana.edu."

Originally from Canada, Ehnes, 47, is well-established on the concert stage and as a recording artist. His recordings have received a number of awards, including two Grammys, three Gramophone Awards and 11 Juno Awards. In 2021 received the Artist of the Year title in the 2021 Gramophone Awards.

“Violin at the Jacobs School of Music has an astonishing history of excellence, with faculty such as Josef Gingold, Jorja Fleezanis and Mauricio Fuks, and alumni including Joshua Bell and Noah Bendix-Balgley,” said Jacobs School Dean Abra Bush. "We enthusiastically welcome violinist James Ehnes into that tradition and look forward to his impact on the Jacobs students and our school well into the future.”

Throughout the 2023-24 season, Ehnes will continue as artist-in-residence with the National Arts Centre of Canada and artistic partner with Artis–Naples. He is also leader of the Ehnes Quartet and has been artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society since 2012. Season highlights include appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

Ehnes began violin studies at the age of five and made his orchestra debut with L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at age 13. He studied with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music and The Juilliard School. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 2010 was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. Ehnes was awarded the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the Instrumentalist category. Ehnes plays the 1715 "Marsick" Stradivarius violin.

“The Strings Department is thrilled to welcome world-class violinist James Ehnes to our faculty,” said Simin Ganatra, chair of the department. “His extraordinary gifts as one of today’s most celebrated players will bring a wonderful musical perspective to our students as well as to the greater community.”

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Replies

Paul Deck

October 15, 2023 at 01:24 PM · This is great news for Jacobs, of course. On the one hand, the person you want teaching you is the person who's totally doing it. But whenever a rock star joins a conservatory faculty, I wonder, frankly, whether their students will actually get the lessons they signed up for. I'm sure some institutions (and rock stars) do this better than others, but my question is whether such an individual would have a written commitment in place with the institution to the effect that only a certain number (say, a third) of their students' lessons would have to be rescheduled or delegated to an assistant, and how that would happen. Otherwise I think the door is open to abusing the students' patience. Maybe students don't care -- maybe only getting half of their lessons is okay if the lessons are with a violinist as proven as Ehnes. Does anyone with knowledge about how top conservatories function have any insight into this? Certainly Jacobs is among the best.