Tasmin Little, Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an English classical violinist.
Background
Little was born in London and is the daughter of actor George Little, best known for his role in Emmerdale Farm. She first learned to read music at age six while learning to play a recorder that her mother had given her. She grew up in northwest London, attending the Yehudi Menuhin School on a scholarship as a weekly boarder between the ages of 8 and 18.
Among her fellow pupils was violinist Nigel Kennedy.
Education
Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Career
She is best known and widely acclaimed as a concerto soloist, and also performs as a recitalist and chamber musician. She has released multiple albums, winning the Critics Award at the Classic Brit Awards in 2011 for her recording of Elgar"s Violin Concerto. In 1982 she was a finalist in the string section of British Broadcasting Corporation Young Musician of the Year.
Little"s first professional performance as a soloist was in 1988 with The Hallé.
She made her first appearance at the British Broadcasting Corporation Proms in 1990, and has appeared regularly since. Over the course of her career Little has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and other major orchestras, and has released over 20 albums.
Little has been an exponent of the works of composer Frederick Delius throughout her career, and was the artistic director of "Delius Inspired", an eight-day festival held in Bradford in July 2006 celebrating his work which was broadcast on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 3. She has also made a documentary on Delius for British Broadcasting Corporation Two.
In 2008 Little released a three-track recording, The Naked Violin, as a free download from her website in a move aimed at making classical music more accessible.
The recording featured Bach"s Partita Number. 3 in East major, Eugène Ysaÿe"s Sonata Number.3 in Doctorate minor, and "Luslawice" by Paul Patterson, all performed unaccompanied. Little received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bradford in 1996, and the University"s music school, the Tasmin Little Music Centre, is named after her.
She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to music