Tasmin Little (born
13 May 1965) is an
English violinist.
She was born in
London, where she studied under
Pauline Scott at the
Yehudi Menuhin School and later at the
Guildhall School of Music. She came to prominence when she was a string section finalist in the ''
BBC Young Musician of the Year'' competition in
1982. Her father is
George Little, the English TV actor
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0514561/filmoyear.
In 1988 she made her professional solo debut with the
Halle Orchestra.
In 1996 she was awarded an
Honorary Doctorate from the
University of Bradford.
She has now established an international reputation, and has recorded
violin concertos by
Bruch,
Brahms,
Sibelius and others, giving some their first recordings — or second, as with
Edmund Rubbra's. She has premiered works, including
Stuart MacRae's violin concerto at the 2001
BBC Proms. The
University of Bradford has named its music centre after her.
On
10 March 2006, ''The Independent'' newspaper wrote "Tasmin Little was ideal to represent the Menuhin School's alumni. She is a true successor: international star, enthusiastic chamber player, and now conducting, too".
In addition to a flourishing career as violin soloist which has taken her to every continent of the world, Tasmin Little has further established her reputation as Artistic Director with her hugely successful “
Delius Inspired” festival, which was broadcast for a week on BBC Radio 3 in
July 2006. The festival, which comprised 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.
In the
2005/
2006 season, Tasmin performed concertos in
Sweden,
Slovenia,
Iceland,
Denmark,
Spain,
Belgium as well as
London (including the
BBC Proms). Her recent
chamber music tours have ranged from a
UK tour in
Manchester’s
Bridgewater Hall,
Symphony Hall, Birmingham,
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall to
Brazil,
Colombia and
Peru.
She now plays/directs
orchestras such as the
Norwegian Chamber,
Britten Sinfonia and
Royal Philharmonic. During her recent tour with the Britten Sinfonia, her 1000th professional performance at London’s
South Bank Centre resulted in the following review in ''
The Independent'': "The second half evinced an extraordinary quality of sharing, as you expect to find in a trio or quartet.... with both Little and Outram at the front for
Mozart's
Sinfonia Concertante. Usually this work feels like a double concerto, but here the lead role passed around, with soloists determined to cooperate rather than compete. All the performers succeeded, not only in placing the work before its public but in drawing listeners into its heart".
In
2006, Tasmin made her fourteenth appearance at the BBC Proms in a performance of the rarely heard concerto by
Alexander Glazunov. She continues to champion seldom-performed repertoire and during the 2006/7 season she will play
Max Bruch's second violin concerto with the
London Philharmonic, the
Korngold concerto in Symphony Hall, Birmingham. She is one of the few
violinists to have tackled
Ligeti’s challenging violin concerto - according to an interview on
BBC Radio 4, only four violinists in the world currently have this in their repertoire. During her
2003 tour she played the work with the
Berlin Philharmonic and Sir
Simon Rattle at the BBC Proms, in Berlin, at the
Salzburg Festival,
New York’s
Carnegie Hall and in
Philadelphia. In
2006/
2007 she has returned to the work by performing it with the
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and at the
Concertgebouw,
Amsterdam.
In
2007, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of
Edward Elgar, she will be performing his
violin concerto on a major tour to
Southeast Asia and
Australia.
She has made 23 recordings, with repertoire ranging from Max Bruch and
Brahms to
Mieczysław Karlowicz and
Arvo Pärt. Orchestras she has played with throughout her career include the
New York Philharmonic,
Cleveland,
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,
Berlin Philharmonic,
Berlin Symphony,
London Symphony Orchestra,
Philharmonia,
London Philharmonic,
Royal Philharmonic,
Thorington Players,
Singapore Symphony Orchestra,
Stockholm Philharmonic and with conductors including
Kurt Masur,
Simon Rattle,
Vladimir Ashkenazy,
Neeme Järvi,
Leonard Slatkin,
Rostropovich,
Daniele Gatti,
Rozhdestvensky,
Gerard Schwarz,
Tadaaki Otaka,
Charles Mackerras,
Yehudi Menuhin,
Andrew Davis and
Roger Norrington.
Tasmin plays a 1757
Guadagnini violin and has, on loan from the
Royal Academy of Music, the "Regent"
Stradivarius.