Lenox — Violinist Joshua Brown will appear in recital at the Linde Center for Music and Learning on January 30 at 7 p.m., as part of Tanglewood’s winter season of performances. The appearance comes at a moment of growing visibility for the young American violinist, whose career has expanded rapidly over the past several years through competition success, orchestral engagements, and an active recital schedule.
Brown first gained widespread attention through international violin competitions, most notably at the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, where he won second prize along with both audience awards. Additional competition results include first prize at the 2023 Global Music Education International Violin Competition in Beijing and first prize and the Audience Award at the 2019 Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition in Augsburg, Germany. In recognition of his emerging career, Brown was awarded a 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Concert Artists Guild’s Louis and Susan Meisel Prize. He is currently represented by the Concert Artists Guild.
Brown’s orchestral career began with a debut performance with the Cleveland Orchestra and has since expanded to engagements with ensembles in the United States and Europe, including the Munich Radio Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, and the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. Reviews of these performances have emphasized clarity of tone and interpretive sensitivity, with critics noting his performances of works by Brahms and Mozart in particular.
In addition to orchestral appearances, Brown maintains an active presence as a recitalist and chamber musician. He has appeared in established recital and chamber music series in the United States and abroad, including Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series; Festival Musiq3 in Brussels; the Tchaikovsky Festival in Moscow; and chamber music series in New York, Cincinnati, Mexico, and Chicago. His work in chamber music and recital settings has been recognized with several awards, including the 2023 Manfred Grommek Prize from Kronberg Academy. He has also been named a Pirastro Artist, Yamaha Young Performing Artist, and Luminarts Fellow.
Brown is currently completing an artist diploma at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he previously earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, studying with Donald Weilerstein. Before attending the New England Conservatory, Joshua studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago. He performs on a Niccolò Amati violin made in Cremona around 1635–1640, on extended loan through the Mary B. Galvin Foundation and the Stradivari Society.
I spoke with Joshua Brown via Zoom last week. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
THE BERKSHIRE EDGE
Joshua, the Queen Elizabeth Competition brought you major international attention. How did that experience change you?
JOSHUA BROWN
It was probably the most stressful experience of my life, but it was also profoundly rewarding. I had been looking forward to that competition for nearly my entire life. As a child, I watched videos of it every year and imagined what it would be like to have my own chance to compete. So, just getting to take part in it was amazing, and you learn so much from those four performances under the highest pressure. You learn how to control your emotions, not get too carried away, and stay focused, always, on the next performance. These are all things I’ve been able to apply now to my professional career. And, of course, the exposure you get from the competition is just wonderful. So many people heard me play both in person and online, and so it’s been great.
THE EDGE
What does the intimacy of recital and chamber music offer you that concerto performances do not?
BROWN
I love the feeling of having an orchestra behind me, and there’s nothing really like that. But what you can do in chamber music that’s so special is a kind of communication that’s not really possible when you’re playing with a large group of people. It’s in-the-moment improvisation on a very small scale. Of course, we are not improvising the notes, hopefully. But the ideas that we might bounce back and forth on stage could be something that we’ve never tried before.
For example, if I’m playing with a pianist, I might try something new, and then, in response, my collaborator might do something else new. This creates a very special and inspiring feeling that I have loved ever since the first time I played chamber music. That kind of conversation is unique.
THE EDGE
Why do you think you have won so many audience awards? How do you connect so strongly with listeners?
BROWN
Oh! That’s a good question! Might be a better one for the audience, but I always try to center my playing around the emotions that these composers were trying to express. I like to think of it from a very personal side.
So, first, I take the composer’s emotions and maybe the feelings that they were trying to express through the music, and then I try to connect them, somehow, to my own feelings—my personal feelings—or ways in which I can relate to those feelings. The third step is transmitting that to the audience so that we all experience these very universal emotions together.
The great composers could speak to everyone, so that’s what I try to express. But I give the music more credit than myself.
THE EDGE
Which composers do you feel especially close to right now?
BROWN
Well, it’s almost too many to list, but some of my very favorites are, of course, J.S. Bach, particularly his music for solo violin. That’s my constant companion. Also Mozart, his operas and a lot of his chamber music. And my favorite is Beethoven, particularly his string quartets. I’m playing some of his music on this program.
I love the music of Brahms, of Béla Bartók. So… a lot of Bs, but also Schubert, and I’m sure I’m leaving out so many.
THE EDGE
When you prepare pieces from the composers you love the most, what’s the first thing you think about? Structure, emotion, or sound?
BROWN
That’s a great question. I think, usually, structure. If I can map out what’s happening in the piece, it provides the scaffolding that I build everything else around. With a piece in sonata form, I’ll figure out where the exposition ends and the development begins. From there, I try to match the emotional arc of the piece to the structure. And then, sound would probably be the third consideration.
THE EDGE
How does playing a 17th-century Nicolò Amati violin shape your musical voice?
BROWN
Well, it’s a huge honor and a thrill every time I pick it up and hear its sound. I loved every other instrument I played before it, but the Amati is still special to me every time I play it. The variety of sounds it can produce, its depth, and the different colors it can create give me so many possibilities to work with. It’s endlessly inspiring.
THE EDGE
What excites you most about performing at Tanglewood’s Linde Center?
BROWN
Well, of course, I grew up knowing about Tanglewood. I’ve been there, and I’ve also enjoyed hiking in the Berkshires. But it’s a great honor to be performing there for the first time, and I look forward to returning.
THE EDGE
What do you hope your audience will take away from your performance on the 30th?
BROWN
Whether they’ve heard these pieces before or not, I hope they will feel the same emotions that I know I’ll be feeling as I experience them. I hope they can forget about the outside world for a little bit and be truly immersed in the experience of hearing a program with very different and contrasting pieces.
THE EDGE
Looking ahead, what kinds of projects or questions do you hope your music will explore?
BROWN
I’m just looking forward to performing more. As we mentioned earlier, the Queen Elizabeth Competition was only about a year and a half ago, and it’s only since then that I’ve been performing so regularly.
I’m still learning and gaining experience, so I’m mostly looking forward to performing for many more years and exploring repertoire that I haven’t had the chance to play yet.
