On Friday, Jan. 30, violinist Joshua Brown makes his debut at Tanglewood, the iconic classical music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Brown, who studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, is a 2025 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, a prestigious award from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts that’s also been bestowed upon famous classical musicians like fellow violinists Joshua Bell and Hilary Hahn. Ahead of his Tanglewood performance – which includes works by Beethoven, Debussy, and Strauss – Brown spoke with WAMC about his life in classical music and his deep love for the violin.
BROWN: My story with the violin started very early. From the time I was born, my older brother played, and so I grew up, literally from birth- He played for me, and so I wanted to be just like him, and I asked my parents for a violin really early on, and I got started when I was two years old with a really tiny little violin. So, it's been a long journey already with the instrument.
WAMC: Tell us a little bit about what you've come to know and love about the violin. There's something so intimate to me about having this resonant chamber in your ear as you work on honing these really specific tones and feelings- Take us inside that experience a little bit.
Yeah, like you said, more than many other, I mean, almost any other instrument, you hold the violin so close to yourself, it's right there in your personal space. And so, there's something, I think, very intimate about that. And also, the sound of the violin, the closeness that it has to the human voice, but then all these advantages that it has over the voice, and being able to play multiple voices at once, or the range of it, or the incredible variation that you can have in the kind of sounds that you produce. It's a very special instrument, and it's such a difficult instrument, too, that it never really gets old working on it. You always feel that you have so much more to learn and so much more that you could improve upon.
Now, the other really cool thing about both classical music and the violin is that it takes you to some really fascinating places, and a lot of places steeped in rich history, and there is this lovely ritual and aura-based experience of classical music. Tell us a little bit about your travels around the world performing this music- I mean, what are some of the most interesting places you've been able to go and play as a result of your craft?
I've been so lucky to go to so many amazing places. I went- Last year, I went, actually four times to Asia. So, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan. I've been, I've been all over Europe, of course, and so it's really interesting to see how audiences react, maybe slightly differently, to different pieces in each location, but seeing this also universal response to the music that we play, even in places that don't have as much familiarity with it. I think it shows that there's something really special about classical music.
Now, as I understand it, you play a 17th Century instrument. I mean, tell us about that- That's a pretty legendary piece of gear to lug around and to explore music on.
Yeah, I would guess most people, when they see me walking through the airport with my violin, wouldn't guess what it is, but oh, it's such a special instrument, and I've been lucky to play it for just over three years now. We had our three-year anniversary very recently, and an instrument like this, these great instruments that are many hundreds of years old, you can always find new colors in them. You can always learn how to play them a little bit better. And that's also what makes it so much fun, is that you can explore this every day, you play a new piece, and suddenly you can unlock some new kind of color or resonance, and so it's really, it's an honor to explore it. You do tend to get used to it over time, and so some people ask, are you scared every time you hold it? But that that went away after a couple weeks.
Now, as far as communicating your love of the violin and classical music to younger generations- How would you articulate the appeal of this and the rewards that you've gotten out of it to a younger person? There's, I think, maybe a tired narrative about classical music perpetually being on its deathbed, but obviously it always seems to resonate with new generations. When you articulate your passion for it, what are some of the themes that come to mind?
Yeah, well, I think regarding this, classical music generally having older audiences- I do think part of the charm of this music is that it does take time, in some cases, to get familiar with it, to really appreciate it to its fullest extent, and older people have more time to spend doing that, which is wonderful. As far as younger audiences, I think there are also so many composers who write with such an emotionally immediate way, for example, Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff or even Beethoven. I think just the music really speaks for itself, and I think with these composers who are perhaps a little bit more accessible, I think any human being really would have a would have a response. I think a lot of it is about finding that composer that speaks to you. And so, I, hopefully, I try to always include a variety of composers in my program and something for everyone. And I think even a very young person, if they found that composer for them that could be a real gateway into music as it was for me.
So, I mean, tell us about some of those composers- who's resonating with you now in 2026?
Well, I have a real off the beaten path favorite right now, who is Ludwig von Beethoven. [laughs] But my favorite composer changes all the time. I think, as a kid, Tchaikovsky was, I think, one of the first composers whose music really, really touched me and I think once you have that first experience of really getting emotionally hooked on a piece, you just want to experience that more and more.
Now, talk to us about what it means to come to Tanglewood- For us out here in Western Mass and in upstate New York and the general Northeastern neck of the woods, we know and love this iconic venue, but it has a much broader international profile, especially in the world of classical music. What does it mean to come and perform here at Tanglewood?
Well, it's a huge honor to come to Tanglewood. Everywhere I go all over the world, when I mention to classical music fans that I live in Boston, they always bring up Tanglewood and their memories of maybe attending a performance there, or asking if I've gone. So, I'm so looking forward to performing there for the first time. And I have to also say, the hiking in that area is fantastic. I've been on some hiking trips up there, so we'll see if- It might be a little too cold for a hike.
And lastly, as far as your interest outside of classical music- What else are you listening to? What else is inspiring you across these somewhat artificial genre barriers? What else is influencing your work and your art?
Well, I think first and foremost, I'm a huge reader, and have been probably about as long as I've been playing the violin, so I'm always getting inspiration from that, from great novels and poetry, I think, has so much in common with music. These are both attempts, I think, to capture something that can't be clearly defined in words and so, poetry is also a big inspiration for me. And even nonfiction. I love reading biographies of the composers who I'm playing and just getting closer to them as people. I find that that can add a whole new dimension to my music making. So, I think reading is my primary source of inspiration. I actually don't end up listening to very much music outside of my practicing, since I really get plenty of music during the day.
