Image: James Ehnes, photo by Ben Ealovega. Courtesy Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff
Violinist James Ehnes will celebrate his 50th birthday with a recital at Banff Centre’s Rolston Recital Hall on September 12, 2026, joined by pianist Andrew Armstrong. The program is billed as James Ehnes’ 50th Canada Birthday Tour and includes Brahms’s Sonata No. 3, Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1, and the world premiere of Carmen Braden’s Imaginal, co-commissioned by Banff Centre.
The performance appears in Banff Centre’s summer 2026 programming as a limited-ticket event at 7:30 p.m. The recital sits alongside a busy slate of concerts, literary cabarets, films and talks across the campus, but the Ehnes date is singled out in the organization’s newsletter as one of the month’s featured events. Tickets are listed at $75.
Banff Centre’s event page describes Ehnes as “one of the planet’s most renowned violinists” and notes that he has accumulated two Grammys, three Gramophone Awards and 12 JUNO Awards, the most of any classical musician in history. The same source says he is a Banff Centre favourite and that he will perform with Armstrong, with whom he has collaborated on several acclaimed recordings.
The recital is anchored by standard repertoire and a new work. Brahms and Bartók place the programme firmly within the central violin-and-piano tradition, while Imaginal adds a contemporary commission to the occasion. Banff Centre identifies the piece as a world premiere and says it was co-commissioned by the institution, linking the event to its broader support for new music as well as high-profile touring artists.
Ehnes’s Banff appearance also arrives with the kind of international profile that has made him a fixture on major concert stages. Banff Centre’s ticketing page says recent and upcoming orchestral highlights include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, LA Phil, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra. It also notes that he is Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society and leader of the Ehnes Quartet.
The event listing adds a detail about the instrument he plays: the 1715 “Marsick” Stradivarius, named for Belgian violinist and teacher Martin Pierre Marsick. According to the ticket page, the violin was valued at approximately $10-million CAD, was purchased in 1999 by collector David L. Fulton, loaned immediately to Ehnes and then sold to him a decade later. Those background notes frame the Banff recital as part of a long-running artistic relationship between a major Canadian violinist and one of the country’s best-known arts centres.
Ehnes’ birthday tour stop is set for Rolston Recital Hall on September 12 at 7:30 p.m., with tickets sold through Banff Centre at $75.
