Experience
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 theinternet 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 linkedto Tasmin's website, 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 FMGramophone 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 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 2008, Tasmin made her sixteenth appearance at the BBC Promenade Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, London, in a performance of the Concerto for Violin and Horn by Dame Ethyl Smyth. 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 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 website, 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 Dochester, London, on September 25th 2008.
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. She plays a 1757 Guadagnini violin and has, on kind loan from the Royal Academy of Music, the 'Regent' Stradivarius of 1708.
Future Vision
"My ideas for the future include recording repertoire that I have not yet committed to disc – the Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn concerti are particular favourites of the standard repertoire; but I am also fascinated by the music of Piazzolla, in addition to enjoying the excitement of new commissions, such as the set of Four Seasons which Roxanna Panufnik is writing for me.
I would enjoy expanding my Naked Violin concerts and workshops abroad, as I have already started to do in China, USA, Australia and New Zealand. I love introducing audiences of all ages to classical violin music and this is something which has given me great satisfaction since I began the project nearly three years ago.
As far as my first “love” is concerned – playing romantic concerti with great symphony orchestras - I look back on my debut with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Carnegie Hall concert with Sir Simon Rattle and Berlin Philharmonic as some of the most exciting concerts of my life. However, even in this area there are still mountains I’d like to climb. For example, I have never played in the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Boston Symphony and Chicago Symphony are only two of the many superb US orchestras with whom I would enjoy collaborating in the future.
Thinking of new ideas and challenges is one of the ways I remain fresh in performance and excited about my life as a musician!"
Tasmin Little.
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Videos
Tasmin Little (violin) and John Lenehan (piano) play La Gitana by Fritz Kreisler as featured on their TCHAIKOVSKIANA CD
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A video of Tasmin Little's performance on July 10th 2005 of John Williams: 'Schindler's List' for the Festival of Commemoration to mark the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II for Her Majesty the Queen and the Nation from Horse Guards Parade,London. From BBC TV 2005.
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Partita for solo violin No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006 - 6. Gigue Johann Sebastian Bach
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"Spiegel im Spiegel" by Arvo Pärt, as performed by Tasmin Little (violin) and Martin Roscoe (piano) on the album "EMI Classics, Pärt: Fratres".
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Reviews
Tasmin Little has clocked up some 70 performances of the piece (Elgar Violin Concerto), and her interpretation seems to grow ever more refined. No parade of sobs and throbs for her; yet we still felt the ardour as the violin's golden thread weaved and soared through Elgar's tapestry of yearning and regret...all magical; especially during Little's haunting accompanied cadenza, so hushed and tender. (Tasmin Little with the BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis, BBC Prom August 2011)
The Times, August 2011
Violinist, Tasmin Little is a major drawcard and it's easy to see why. From the first notes of Brahm's Violin Concerto she made it her very own, moulding it not as a massive symphonic statement but as a softly intimate sharing of confidences between her violin and orchestra
The Advertiser, Adelaide, June 2011 (Tasmin Little with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra/Arvo Volmer/Brahms Violin Concerto/June 2011)
Five stars imply mindblowing perfection. That is what we got from Tasmin and her Naked Violin....Her playing throughout was a miracle of sensuous beauty of tone, wonderfully shaped phrasing, subtly graded dynamics and consummate musicianship
Declan Townsend, Irish Examiner. November 2009
English violinist Tasmin Little continued her residence with the Seattle Symphony this week with a weighty slab of English beef, the Elgar Violin Concerto.,,,,,It is always a joy to witness an artist with this like of life-spark, who really connects with t he music, with her instrument, with listeners. The audience's response to her was thunderous.
John Sutherland, Seattle Times. March 2009
The first thing one notices about Little is her extraordinarily beautiful tone on those low strings. It shone with richness and warmth. Little's tone is equally velvety and warm on the upper string and she sustained the shape and melody through t he movement's long, somewhat meandering end, to such effect there was not a sound in the hall between its end and the beginning of the last movement.
Philippa Kiraly, Seattle PI, March 2009
Contact
For all queries relating to concerti, recitals and the Naked Violin workshops in the UK and Ireland please contact:
Sinead O'Carroll
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Tel: +44 1753 855 432
Mob: +44 791 376 4141
For all queries relating to concerti, recitals and the Naked Violin workshops outside of the UK and Ireland please contact Jenny Rose at AOR Management:
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Tel: +1 206 729 6160
For all general enquiries, including media and marketing, please contact Tasmin's PA, Denise Kantor:
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 8208 2480
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