Tasmin Little OBE - Violin
Tasmin Little has firmly established herself as one of today's leading international violinists. She has performed on every continent in some of the most prestigious venues of the world, including Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, South Bank Centre, Barbican Centre and Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center and Suntory Hall.
Tasmin’s concerto appearances include those with Adelaide Symphony, Berliner Philharmoniker, Bournemouth Symphony, Berliner Symphoniker, City of Birmingham Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orkester Leipzig, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Singapore Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, West Australian Symphony and all the BBC Orchestras.
Her multi-award winning and varied career encompasses international concerto and recital performances, masterclasses, workshops and community outreach work. Tasmin's discography and performance schedule reflect her wide-ranging repertoire and she has given numerous World Premiere performances including concerti by Willem Jeths, Robin de Raaf, Stuart MacRae, Robert Saxton and Dominic Muldowney. Most recently, her newly commissioned work, Four World Seasons by Roxanna Panufnik, was premiered as a live broadcast on the BBC at the start of Music Nation weekend, leading up to the London 2012 Olympic games.
She remains one of the few violinists to perform Ligeti's challenging Violin Concerto and has performed this work at the Berlin Philharmonie, New York Carnegie Hall, Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Philadelphia Kimmel Center.
Tasmin is an exclusive recording artist for Chandos Records. Her recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto with Sir Andrew Davis and the Royal National Scottish Orchestra garnered outstanding critical acclaim and was awarded the Critic's Choice Award in the 2011 Classic BRIT Awards. Her recording of the Britten Concerto with Edward Gardner and the BBC Philharmonic, released in May 2013, also received lavish critical praise - “one of the finest (versions) committed to disc”, “a rapturous disc”, “an incandescent commitment to the work”, “her virtuosity is breathtaking”.
Her most recent releases for Chandos include a disc of British orchestral works of violin concerti by Coleridge Taylor and Haydn Wood and the Delius Suite with the BBC Philharmonic and Sir Andrew Davis, a French Violin Sonatas disc of sonatas by Lekeu, Ravel and Fauré with Martin Roscoe, a British Violin Sonatas disc of works by Ferguson, Britten and Walton with Piers Lane, and a 2 CD-set of Schubert Chamber Works with Tim Hugh and Piers Lane.
In February 2016, Tasmin releases a triple CD of the complete Beethoven sonatas with Martin Roscoe, which will be launched by London's Wigmore Hall with a concert on 10th February.
Further awards include a Gramophone Award for Audience Innovation for her ground-breaking musical outreach programme, The Naked Violin, a Diapason d'Or for her disc of Delius Violin Sonatas with Piers Lane, and a Gold Badge Award for Services to Music.
The 2015/2016 season includes a return visit to Warsaw to play the Szymanowski Violin Concerto no. 2 with the Warsaw Philharmonic conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk, a performance of Bernstein’s Serenade for violin and orchestra with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Juanjo Mena, concerti with the Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London’s South Bank and elsewhere in the UK. Tasmin will also give concerts in Australia in Sydney and at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville. In the 2016/2017 season, Tasmin will play Walton concerto with Osmo Vanska and the London Philharmonic at London’s South Bank, Szymanowski 2nd concerto with Ed Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, as well as a further visit to Australia to play concerti in Adelaide and Tasmania.
In 2008, Tasmin launched her project, The Naked Violin, aimed at breaking down barriers to classical music by releasing a free CD for download on her website, and performing in the community where music is rarely heard. Within days of the CD release, 6,500 websites had linked to Tasmin’s site and within a few months, more than half a million people had visited and downloaded. The project was filmed for television by ITV’s The South Bank Show and continues both in UK and has toured in America, China, New Zealand, Ireland and United Arab Emirates (Dubai).
Tasmin Little is an Ambassador for The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts, is a Vice President of the Elgar Society, and a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, an Ambassador for Youth Music, and has received Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Bradford, Leicester, Hertfordshire and City of London. 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. She plays a 1757 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin.
Works performed:
Beethoven - Violin Concerto - Sun 26 Jun 2016
