Irvine Arditti

Irvine Arditti (born 1953) is a British violinist, as well as the leader[1] and founder of the Arditti Quartet.

Irvine Arditti
Irvine Arditti in a concert with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014
Background information
Born1953 (age 67–68)
London, United Kingdom
GenresClassical
Occupation(s)Violinist
InstrumentsViolin
Years active1974–present
Associated actsLondon Symphony Orchestra, Arditti Quartet

Biography

Arditti attended the Central Foundation Boys' School in London[2] before continuing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 16 where he studied with Clarence Myerscough and Manoug Parikian. He joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1976 and after two years, at the age of 25, became its Co-Concert Master. He left the orchestra in 1980 to devote more time to the Arditti Quartet which he had formed while still a student.

In 1988 he was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of his distinguished work. The Arditti Quartet was awarded the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1999 for 'lifetime achievement' in music. An honorary fellowship followed from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and in 2014 was awarded an honorary doctorate to the University off Huddersfield. In 2017 he received the Charles Cros Grand Prix in honorem, which is for lifetime achievement.

Arditti has been responsible for having given the world premières of a number of large scale works specially written for him. These include Iannis Xenakis' Dox Orkh and Toshio Hosokawa's Landscape III, both for violin and orchestra, as well as Brian Ferneyhough's Terrain, Luca Francesconi's Riti Neurali and Body Electric, James Dillon's Vernal Showers, Jonathan Harvey's Scena, Brice Pauset's Vita Nova, Roger Reynolds Aspiration and Salvatore Sciarrino's Le Stagioni Artificiali all for violin and ensemble.

He has also been responsible for the creation of many solo works including both of Ferneyhough's solo violin works, Intermedio and Unsichtbare Farben. He was responsible for inspiring John Cage to complete his Freeman Etudes giving the first complete performance of them in 1991[3][4] and also for inspiring other composers in several pieces as Pascal Dusapin and Roger Reynolds,[5]

He has appeared as soloist with many distinguished orchestras and ensembles which include the Bayerische Rundfunk, the BBC Symphony, the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Ensemble Modern, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Paris, the Residentie Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Asko Ensemble, the Ensemble Contrechamps, the London Sinfonietta, the Nieuw Ensemble, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Oslo Sinfonietta, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Schoenberg Ensemble. He has performed in most major concert halls and music festival throughout the world. His performances of many concertos have won acclaim by their composers, in particular György Ligeti,[6] Henri Dutilleux,[7] and Xenakis.[8] He has recorded solo works widely, in more 30 albums, as well as having made more than 200 with the Arditti quartet.[9]

His recording of Luciano Berio's violin Sequenza, on Mode Records won the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis for 2007 and was awarded best contemporary music release by the Italian music magazine Amadeus in 2008.[10] In 2009 Arditti was appointed foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 2014 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in the UK.[11]

Arditti is married to the prominent Mexican composer Hilda Paredes.[12] They reside in London. Irvine's son, Jake Arditti, is an upcoming countertenor.

References
  1. Service, Tom (20 June 2008). "Nothing is impossible if you rehearse it enough". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  2. "Alumni". Central Foundation Boys' School. 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  3. "Irvine Arditti Profile". Mode Records. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  4. "Irvine Arditti Repertoire List". Arditti Quartet. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  5. "Repertoire - Irvine Arditti". Ardittiquartet.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  6. "Two views on a showcase of sensitive transcriptions". Gramophone. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  7. International, Bill Kenny Seen and Heard. "Edinburgh International Festival 2009 (22) – Beethoven, Dutilleux, Webern, and Schoenberg:Barbara Hannigan (soprano), Arditti Quartet. Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, 1.9.2009 (MB)".
  8. Matossian, Nouritza (1982). "Xenakis at 60". Tempo (142): 38–40. JSTOR 944816. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  9. "Arditti String Quartet". DRAM. Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  11. "Celebrated violinist receives honorary doctorate". University of Huddersfield. July 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  12. Remarks of Irvine Arditti on BBC Radio 3's Hear and Now program, 30 January 2010
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