For several decades Irvine Arditti has been considered one of the most important performers in the new music world. In addition to his legendary career as first violinist of the Arditti Quartet, he has given life to many solo works. Born in London in 1953, he 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 to devote more time to the Arditti Quartet, which he had formed while still a student. Irvine Arditti has given the world premieres of many large-scale works written for him, including Xenakis’ Dox Orkh and Hosokawa’s Landscape III for violin and orchestra, and Ferneyhough’s Terrain, Francesconi’s Riti Neurali and Body Electric, Dillon’s Vernal Showers, Harvey’s Scena, Paredes’ Señales, Pauset’s Vita Nova, Reynolds’ Aspiration and Sciarrino’s Le Stagioni Artificiali for violin and ensemble. He has appeared with many distinguished orchestras and ensembles including the Bayerische Rundfunk, BBC Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Orchestre National de Paris, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Nieuw Ensemble, Nouvel Ensemble Modern, Oslo Sinfonietta, Philharmonia and Schoenberg Ensemble. His concerto performances have won acclaim by their composers, especially Ligeti and Dutilleux. As well recording over 200 CDs with the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti has built an impressive catalogue of award-winning solo recordings of works by composers such as Berio, Boulez, Cage, Carter, Donatoni, Estrada, Ferneyhough, Mira, Nono, Nunes, Paredes, Reynolds, Sciarrino and Xenakis. In November 2017 Irvine was presented with the Charles Cros Grand Prix in honorem. His arrangement for quartet of Cage’s 44 Harmonies from Apartment House can be found on Mode Records and is published by Edition Peters in New York. In July 2013, The Techniques of Violin Playing by Arditti and composer Robert Platz, was released by Barenreiter Edition. In 2023 Schott, Mainz released Irvine’s autobiography.
