Johnny Gandelsman
About
Called "a violinist who can do anything" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Grammy Award-winning violinist and producer Johnny Gandelsman integrates a wide range of creative sensibilities into a style unique among today’s violinists. Richard Brody of the New Yorker has called Gandelsman "revelatory" in concert, placing him in the company of "radically transformative" performers like Maurizio Pollini, Peter Serkin, and Christian Zacharias. He was a 2024 MacArthur Fellow.
Gandelsman's recording of the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin reached No. 1 on the Billboard classical chart, and made it onto both New York Magazine's and New York Times' "Best of the Year" lists. The Boston Globe described it as "...sparklingly personal Bach, shorn of grandeur, lofted by a spirit of dance, and as predictable as the flight of a swallow." His next release, featuring Bach’s complete Cello Suites, transcribed for violin was enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike. The New York Times called his interpretation "radically weightless, at times seemingly improvisatory, and completely grounded in dance."
In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic and wildfires in California raged and America reckoned with entrenched systemic racism, police brutality, and a deeply polarized presidential election, Gandelsman created the project "This is America" as a form of creative documentation and response to a time of disruption and disconnection. Working with 20 presenters across the country, he invited 22 U.S.-based composers to reflect on the time they were living in. NPR Music called the resulting anthology "profound and engaging." Pitchfork said it was "a new vision for classical music" and Gramophone said it was "potentially one of the important recordings of our time." Now expanded to include 28 works, Gandelsman has performed "This is America" throughout North America, including year-long residencies with Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth during the 2023-24 season, and with Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina during the 2024-25 season.
A passionate advocate for new music, Gandelsman has premiered more than 80 new compositions, including the music by Kinan Azmeh, Layale Chaker, Christina Courtin, Olivia Davis, Reena Esmail, Gabriela Lena Frank, Osvaldo Golijov, Gonzalo Grau, Vijay Iyer, Colin Jacobsen, Maya Miro Johnson, Gabriel Kahane, Carla Kihlstedt, Dana Lyn, Nico Muhly, Matana Roberts, Kyle Sanna, Caroline Shaw, Kojiro Umezaki, Du Yun, Evan Ziporyn, and John Zorn.
As a founding member of Brooklyn Rider and a member of the Silkroad Ensemble, Gandelsman has closely worked with such luminaries as Bela Fleck, Martin Hayes, Kayhan Kalhor, Yo-Yo Ma, Mark Morris, Anne Sofie von Otter, Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova, Joshua Redman, Suzanne Vega, Abigail Washburn, and Damian Woetzel.
Gandelsman has been producing records since starting his label, In A Circle Records, in 2008. In addition to his three solo albums, other credits include working on Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein’s PBS documentary film The U.S. and the Holocaust; Silkroad Ensemble's album "Falling Out of Time"; Brooklyn Rider's "The Wanderer" and Grammy-nominated "Healing Modes" (In A Circle Records); Magos Herrera and Brooklyn Rider's "Dreamers" (Sony). The Silkroad Ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma's album "Sing Me Home" (Sony), a Grammy Award-winner for best world music album, was co-produced by Gandelsman and legendary producer Kevin Killen who has also worked with artists like U2 and Elvis Costello.
Gandelsman was born in Moscow in 1978, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1990. He’s lived in NY since 1999.
