Tasmin Little
Encyclopedia
Tasmin Little is an English
violin
ist.
She studied under Pauline Scott at the Yehudi Menuhin School
and later at the Guildhall School of Music, coming to prominence as a string section finalist in the 1982 BBC Young Musician of the Year
competition. She plays a 1757 Guadagnini
violin
, and also has, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music
, the 1708 "Regent" Stradivarius
. Her father is George Little, the English TV actor.
She has now established an international reputation, and has recorded violin concerto
s by Bruch
, Brahms
, Sibelius
and others, giving some their first recordings — or second, as with Edmund Rubbra
's. She has premiered works, including Stuart MacRae
's violin concerto at the 2001 BBC Proms
.
In addition to a flourishing career as violin soloist which has taken her to every continent of the world, Tasmin Little has further established her reputation as Artistic Director with her hugely successful “Delius
Inspired” festival, which was broadcast for a week on BBC Radio 3 in July 2006. The festival, which comprised 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.
As a concerto player, Tasmin's performances in the 2010/11 season took her twice back to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam where she performed violin concerti by Loevendie and Prokofiev. Other performances in 2010/11 include concerts in Australia, New Zealand and Slovenia, London’s South Bank Centre as well as a Festival at Kings Place, London, entitled "Tasmin Little and Friends: Violin Journeys".
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. 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.
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 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.
On 15 June 2008 Tasmin and the Naked Violin project featured in the South Bank Show on ITV1
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist.
She studied under Pauline Scott at the Yehudi Menuhin School
Yehudi Menuhin School
The Yehudi Menuhin School is a specialist music school in Surrey, England. It was founded in 1963 by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin.The School also gives pupils the best musical education any specialist schools can with a number of internationally main teachers, Simon Fischer , Natalya Boyarskaya ,...
and later at the Guildhall School of Music, coming to prominence as a string section finalist in the 1982 BBC Young Musician of the Year
BBC Young Musician of the Year
The BBC Young Musician of the Year is a televised national music competition. It is broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Four biennially, despite the name, and hosted by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
competition. She plays a 1757 Guadagnini
Giovanni Battista Guadagnini
Giovanni Battista Guadagnini ; was an emiliano luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history.-Biography:...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, and also has, on loan from the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, the 1708 "Regent" Stradivarius
Stradivarius
The name Stradivarius is associated with violins built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or reproduce, though this belief is controversial...
. Her father is George Little, the English TV actor.
Music career
In 1988 Little made her professional solo debut with the Hallé Orchestra.She has now established an international reputation, and has recorded violin concerto
Violin concerto
A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...
s by Bruch
Max Bruch
Max Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
and others, giving some their first recordings — or second, as with Edmund Rubbra
Edmund Rubbra
Edmund Rubbra was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The most famous of his pieces are his eleven...
's. She has premiered works, including Stuart MacRae
Stuart MacRae
Stuart MacRae is a British composer.- Education and career :Stuart MacRae studied at Durham University with Philip Cashian and Michael Zev Gordon, and subsequently with Simon Bainbridge and Robert Saxton at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama...
's violin concerto at the 2001 BBC Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
.
In addition to a flourishing career as violin soloist which has taken her to every continent of the world, Tasmin Little has further established her reputation as Artistic Director with her hugely successful “Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
Inspired” festival, which was broadcast for a week on BBC Radio 3 in July 2006. The festival, which comprised 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.
Concerts and tours
Tasmin has played with many of the world's greatest orchestras in a career that has taken her to every continent of the world. 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.As a concerto player, Tasmin's performances in the 2010/11 season took her twice back to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam where she performed violin concerti by Loevendie and Prokofiev. Other performances in 2010/11 include concerts in Australia, New Zealand and Slovenia, London’s South Bank Centre as well as a Festival at Kings Place, London, entitled "Tasmin Little and Friends: Violin Journeys".
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. 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.
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 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.
Recordings
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. A new Delius CD is being released on September 26th 2011, on Chandos (CHSA 5094). DELIUS: Double Concerto, Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto with Paul Watkins , cello and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis conducting. And EMI Classics have reissued 4 CDs with Tamin which are released on October 3rd 2011. No.1 - Ravel, Poulenc, Debussy & Delius (Tasmin Little) [Double CD](ASIN: B005GUESRU), No.2 - Brahms, Sibelius And Arvo Pärt (Tasmin Little) [Double CD] (ASIN: B005GUESU2), No.3 - Bruch, Dvorak And Lalo (Tasmin Little) [Double CD] (ASIN: B005GUESSE), No.4 - Violin Showpieces (Tasmin Little) [Double CD] (ASIN: B005GUESTS).Testimonials
Robert Maycock of The Independent newspaper wrote "Tasmin Little was ideal to represent the Menuhin School's alumni. She is a true successor: international star, enthusiastic chamber player, and now conducting, too".On 15 June 2008 Tasmin and the Naked Violin project featured in the South Bank Show on ITV1
Awards
In 1996 Little was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bradford, whose music centre is named after her, and has subsequently received further Honorary degrees from the Universities of Leicester, Hertfordshire and City of London. In 2008, she received the 2008 Classic FM Gramophone Award for Audience Innovation for her project The Naked Violin. In May 2011 Tasmin won the much-coveted "Critic's Choice" award for the Elgar disc at the Classic BRIT Awards Ceremony.Charitable interests
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), and Ambassador for Youth Music.External links
- Tasmin Little's official website
- Free recordings & Three Step Challenge
- Tasmin Little Music Centre University of Bradford