Tasmin Little

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 site, 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.

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 now play/directs orchestras such as Seattle Symphony, Norwegian Chamber, London Mozart Players, Royal Philharmonic, 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 2008/09 season took her back to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam where she gave the World Premiere of a violin concerto by Robin de Raaff, and she will return in 2010 to the Concertgebouw to premiere a concerto by Willem Jeths. Other performances in 2009 include concerts in Utrecht, Seattle, Katowice, Belfast, Ireland, Spain and a major tour of China, where she continued her Naked Violin project as well as performing works from her new CD 'Partners in Time' with John Lenehan.

In 2008, Tasmin made her fifteenth appearance at the BBC Promenade Concerts 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 Göteborg Symphony 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. In 2008 she began her first year as Artistic Director of the annual Orchestra of the Swan 'Spring Sounds' Festival, which features world premieres alongside firm favourites in the English repertoire.

Her discography reflects her wide-ranging repertoire and includes twenty-three recordings, ranging from Bruch and Brahms to Karlowicz and Arvo Pärt. Her March 2009 release of the disc 'Partners in Time' is the first in an exciting new collaboration with the record company BIS.

Tasmin is an Ambassador for The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts, is a Fellow of the Guildhall of Music and Drama, and has received Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Bradford, Leicester, Hertfordshire and City of London.

She plays a 1757 Guadagnini violin and has, on kind loan from the Royal Academy of Music, the 'Regent' Stradivarius of 1708.