Irvine Arditti (violin)

In addition to his phenomenal career as first violinist of the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti continues to excel as an extraordinary soloist. Born in London in 1953, Irvine Arditti began his studies at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 16. 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 in order to devote more time to the Arditti Quartet which he had formed while still a student.

During the past decade Irvine Arditti has given the world premières of a plethora of large scale works especially written for him. These include Xenakis' Dox Orkh and Hosokawa's Landscape III , both for violin and orchestra, as well as Ferneyhough's Terrain , Francesconi's Riti Neurali , Dillon's Vernal Showers and Harvey's Scena , all for violin and ensemble. He has appeared with many distinguished orchestras and ensembles including the Bayerische Rundfunk, BBC Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Paris, Het Residentie den Hague, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Asko Ensemble, Ensemble Contrechamps , London Sinfonietta , Nieuw Ensemble, Nouvel Ensemble Modern, Oslo Sinfonietta, Schoenberg Ensemble. His performances of many concertos have won acclaim by their composers, in particular Ligeti and Dutilleux.

In February 2007 there was a premier in the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam of a new work for violin and ensemble by Sciarrino called Le Stagioni Artificiali with the Nieuw Ensemble. The work was repeated in Enschede and Brussels at the Ars Musica Festival . Also in Amsterdam Vita Nova (sérénades) by Brice Pauset was premiered. Vita Nova was heard for the first time in the UK at the Huddersfield festival, again with the Nieuw Ensemble.

Cage's Freeman Etudes was heard in Milano Musica Festival in early October and Nono's La Lontananza was performed  with Andre Richard in London on the South Bank on October 31st.

In late March 2008 their will be 3 performances of a new work for violin and orchestra by Miguel Galvez Taroncher in Valencia and the surrounding area.

As well as having recorded over 150 CDs with the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti has built an impressive catalogue of solo recordings. His CD of solo violin works by composers such as Carter, Estrada, Ferneyhough and Donatoni, as well as his recording of Nono's La Lontananza , both on the label Mon taigne Auvidis, have been awarded numerous prizes. His recording of Cage's Freeman Etudes for solo violin, as part of his complete Cage violin music series for American label Mode, has made musical history. The series is now complete. The violin concertos by Berio, Xenakis and Mira, recorded in Moscow with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, are featured on a disc by Swedish label Bis.

Mode has just released Irvine Arditti's arrangement for Quartet of Cage's 44 Harmonies from Apartment House.