Tasmin Little, John Mark Ainsley, City Of London Sinfonia & Richard Hickox
Biography Tasmin Little, John Mark Ainsley, City Of London Sinfonia & Richard Hickox
Tasmin Little
In 2008, Tasmin Little was the subject of a television documentary by the prestigious South Bank Show, which followed her ground-breaking project "The Naked Violin".
This ambitious project, which boldly embraced the internet and offered up a free downloadable recital of works for solo violin, achieved phenomenal success after its release in 2008 and was widely hailed as 'revolutionary' and 'inspiring'. It included an on-going series of workshops and concerts around the UK, and created an extraordinary volume of media interest in newspapers, on television, radio and the internet. Within days of the release of The Naked Violin there were over 6000 international websites linked to Tasmin's site, all talking about the pioneering aspect of the download and her ability to promote the value of music to all corners of society. Tasmin received the 2008 Classic FM Gramophone Award for Audience Innovation for this project at the Dorchester, London, on September 25th 2008.
Tasmin has played with many of the world's greatest orchestras in a career that has taken her to every continent. In addition to her regular solo performances, she has play/directed orchestras such as Royal Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber, European Union Chamber Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia. In 2007/08 she joined the London Mozart Players as soloist and director in a tour of the UK which also featured her UK conducting debut.
Tasmin’s performances in the 2011/12 season took her back to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam for a performance of Dritte Musik by Rihm, and she gave three concerto performances in London at the South Bank, Cadogan Hall and the Barbican. She returned to China, Singapore, Dublin and Philadelphia, made her debut in Dubai in December and in March 2012 she gave the World Premiere of the completed version of Roxanna Panufnik’s Four World Seasons with the London Mozart Players. This live National broadcast on BBC Radio 3 was opening concert of the Music Nation weekend, marking the beginning of the cultural events leading up to the London 2012 Olympic Games. Forthcoming performances in 2012/13 include her debuts with St Louis Symphony and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and her return to Warsaw for two performances of the Brahms violin concerto, return performances in Perth and Tasmania, her second curation of a 3-day festival of chamber music at London’s Kings Place, a celebrity recital in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall with Martin Roscoe, performances in London’s South Bank Centre and five recording projects for Chandos Records.
In 2011, Tasmin made her seventeenth appearance at the BBC Promenade Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, London, in a performance of the Elgar Violin Concerto with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, she will appear twice at the Proms, in a performance of Delius violin concerto with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko, and at the “Musical Marvels” Wallace and Gromit Prom with Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra. She continues to champion seldom-performed repertoire and has received critical acclaim as one of the few violinists to have mastered Ligeti's challenging violin concerto. Her 2003 tour with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, during which she performed the concerto at the Proms, Berlin Philharmonie, the Salzburg Festival, New York's Carnegie Hall and Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, received unanimous critical acclaim ('the technical command was glorious' The Guardian; 'very beautiful' Berliner Morgenpost; 'a major violin talent' Philadelphia Inquirer; 'a formidable soloist' New York Times). In 2007 she returned to the work with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
In 2006, Tasmin was Artistic Director of her hugely successful 'Delius Inspired' Festival, which was broadcast for an entire week on BBC Radio 3 in July. An exciting range of events, ranging from orchestral concerts and chamber music to films and exhibitions, also reached 800 school children in an ambitious programme designed to widen interest in classical music for young people. She was Artistic Director of Spring Sounds Festival from 2008 until 2010. In April 2012, to celebrate the 150th year since Delius' birth, Tasmin, as a leading exponent of this composer's music, was invited to appear on BBC Radio 3 "Composer of the Week" featuring Delius, where she discussed the life and music of the composer.
Her discography reflects her wide-ranging repertoire and includes twenty-five recordings, ranging from Bruch and Brahms to Karlowicz and Arvo Pärt. Her recording of all the four Delius Violin Sonatas with Piers Lane won the prized Diapason d'Or. In March 2009 she released the disc 'Partners in Time', her follow-up to The Naked Violin, and in Autumn 2010 her long-awaited recording of the Elgar violin concerto was released on the Chandos label to unanimous critical acclaim. The recording celebrated the 100th anniversary of the concerto’s premiere and included a re-creation of a special version of the accompanied cadenza. Tasmin won the much-coveted "Critic's Choice" award for the Elgar disc at the May 2011 Classic BRIT Awards Ceremony.
Tasmin Little is an Ambassador for The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts, is a Fellow of the Guildhall of Music and Drama, is President of ESTA (European String Teachers Association), an Ambassador for Youth Music, and has received Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Bradford, Leicester, Hertfordshire and City of London. In 2009, she received a prestigious Gold Badge Award for services to music.
She plays a 1757 Guadagnini violin and has, on kind loan from the Royal Academy of Music, the 'Regent' Stradivarius of 1708.
In June 2012, Tasmin Little was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Birthday Honours List, for services to music.
