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Jeremy Kittel

Jeremy Kittel
Birth nameJeremy David Kittel
Born (1984-04-26) April 26, 1984 (age 40)
OriginMichigan, United States
Genresacoustic, Classical, Celtic, bluegrass, folk, jazz
Occupation(s)Composer, Arranger, Producer, Violinist, Fiddler, Violist, Multi-instrumentalist
Instrument(s)Violin, Fiddle, Viola, Voice, Multi-instrumentalist, Guitar, Mandolin, Piano
Years active2000-present
WebsiteJeremyKittel.com

Jeremy Kittel is an American musician and composer.[1][2] His primary instruments are the violin / fiddle and viola and he has worked in a number of genres including Celtic, Jazz, Pop, Classical, Bluegrass, Folk music, and more.

He leads his namesake group, Kittel & Co.[3] and has worked with many prominent artists, including Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Zedd, Fleet Foxes, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, Shawn Mendes, My Morning Jacket, Yo-Yo Ma, the Silk Road Ensemble, Paquito D’Rivera, Mark O'Connor, Turtle Island Quartet, Jon Batiste, Aoife O'Donovan, Jars of Clay, and Darol Anger.

Biography

Kittel grew up in Saline, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance[4] for his undergraduate degree and earned his master's degree in jazz violin from the Manhattan School of Music in 2007.[1]

Jeremy Kittel has performed as a soloist with many orchestras including the Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic and Orlando Philharmonic.[1] He was a guest twice on A Prairie Home Companion and has played in the house band for Live From Here and Late Night with Stephen Colbert. He has also played the Kennedy Center, Bonnaroo, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and Carnegie Hall.

'Chrysalis,' a track on his group's 2018 album Whorls, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition; the other nominees were John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Terence Blanchard, and Alexandre Desplat.[5] He has won other awards throughout his career, some of the more notable being the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin; the Stanley Medal and Emerging Artist Award at the University of Michigan;[6][7] the Detroit Music Award for Outstanding Folk Artist, Outstanding Jazz Recording and Outstanding Jazz composer;[8] and the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championship.[9]

In 2015, Kittel co-composed the symphonic work Bull Frogs Croon with Aoife O'Donovan and Teddy Abrams, and it was performed with himself and O'Donovan as soloists. In 2016, the Konzerthaus Berlin commissioned him to compose a piece for the 100th birthday of Yehudi Menuhin. The work, "A Compass in the Tempest," was premiered with violinists Daniel Hope, Roby Lakatos, L. Subramaniam, Gilles Apap, Didier Lockwood and Mark O’Connor. In 2020, alongside the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and Eric Jacobsen he premiered a newly commissioned piece, Stones River, drawing upon upon early American music.[10] And in 2022, he premiered In the Dream, for Symphonic Band and solo violin, commissioned by the University of Michigan, at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI.[11]

As an arranger, he has worked with Aoife O'Donovan, Zedd, Sara Watkins, Shawn Mendes, Abigail Washburn, Theo Katzman, Yo-Yo Ma, the Silk Road Ensemble, Renee Fleming, the Turtle Island Quartet, Laura Veirs, Chris Thile, My Morning Jacket, John Mayer, Jars of Clay, Camera Obscura, and more.

Discography

Solo recordings

Year Album
2018 Whorls [Kittel & Co.]
2010 Chasing Sparks
2005 Jazz Violin
2003 Roaming
2000 Celtic Fiddle

Other Recordings, etc.

Year Title Medium Credit
2024 Shawn (Shawn Mendes) Album String Arranger, Violin, Viola
2024 Telos (Zedd) Album String & Orchestral Arranger, Violin, Viola
2023 The Way Things Used to Be (Zac Zinger) Album Featured soloist
2022 The Bridge (Jazz Mafia, Otis McDonald, Adam Theis) Single Violin solo [recorded in 2012]
2022 Infinite Space (SÍOMHA) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola
2021 Ascension (Antwaun Stanley and Tyler Duncan) Album Violin, Viola
2021 Ultramodern (Ruen Brothers) Album Violin, Viola
2021 Pin-Up Daddy (Rett Madison) Album Violin, Viola
2020 Wendy (Film, Searchlight Pictures) Film Viola
2020 Bull Frogs Croon (and Other Songs) (Aoife O'Donovan) Album Producer, Arranger, Co-composer, Performer
2020 Modern Johnny Sings: Songs in the Age of Vibe (Theo Katzman) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola
2020 Perfect Song (Sabrina Carpenter) Single Violin, Viola
2020 Joel Adams (Joel Adams) Album Violin, Viola
2019 WWE 2K20 (2K Games) Video Game Violin, Viola
2019 Noisy Feelings (Ryan Lerman) Album Violin, Viola
2019 Borderless Lullabies (Esperanza Spalding, Morley, others) Album Violin, Viola
2018 What They Had (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Album Violin, Viola, Improvisations
2017 Mother Lion (May Erlewine) Album Violin
2017 A Series of Unfortunate Events (The Ersatz Elevator: Part One) TV Violin
2017 Crack-Up (Fleet Foxes) Album Violin
2016 Sing Me Home (Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble) Album Arranger, "Going Home" feat. Abigail Washburn
2016 The Raven's Rock (Cillian Vallely) Album Fiddle
2014 Notify (Padraig Rynne) Album Violin, Viola
2013 Mike Marshall and the Turtle Island Quartet (Turtle Island Quartet, Mike Marshall) Album Viola
2013 Dot the Dragon's Eyes (Hanneke Cassel) Album Fiddle, Viola
2013 Go Down Singing (single, Michelle Chamuel) Album Violin, Viola
2013 Desire Lines (Camera Obscura) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola
2013 Fossils (Aoife O'Donovan) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola
2013 Inland (Jars of Clay) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola
2013 Warp and Weft (Laura Veirs) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola
2013 Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm Video Game Violin, Viola
2012 Half-Made Man (Ben Sollee) Album Violin, Viola, Fiddle
2012 Epic Mickey 2 Video Game Violin, Viola
2011 Circuital (My Morning Jacket) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola
2011 Send It Down (Kai Welch) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola
2011 Kinect: Disneyland Adventures Video Game Violin, Viola
2011 Infamous 2 Video Game Violin, Viola
2010 Have You Ever Been (Turtle Island Quartet) Album Viola, Arranger
2010 City of Refuge (Abigail Washburn) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola
2010 Istiqbal Gathering (John Jorgensen and Orchestra Nashville) Album Viola (in Turtle Island Quartet)
2008 This Here (Seth Bernard) Album Violin, Fiddle
2007 No Regrets (John Nam) Album Violin
2006 Fiddle Camp (Mark O'Connor and Guests) Album Violin, Fiddle
2006 Gypsy Djazz (The Detroit Swingtet) Album Violin
2005 Cinnamon Matinee (Ben Cyllus) Album Violin
2006 Gypsy Djazz (The Detroit Swingtet) Album Violin
2005 Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Tally Hall) Album Violin
2004 Songs of Innocence and Experience (William Bolcom) Album Violin

References

  1. ^ a b c Templeton, David (2012). "The Future is Wide Open". Strings (203): 42–46.
  2. ^ Templeton, David (2005). "Jeremy Kittel Takes a Jazzy Turn". Strings (203): 82. Archived from the original on 2011-12-14.
  3. ^ Cahill TISQ Honored with a Grammy Strings, 2006
  4. ^ Northernscold, Kirstin (March 25, 2004). "Jeremy Kittel plays the fiddle". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  5. ^ "61st Annual GRAMMY Awards | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  6. ^ ‘‘Alumni Society Emerging Artists 2010’’ 2010
  7. ^ ‘‘Alumni as Mentors’’ Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback Machine 2010
  8. ^ "DMA Winners". Detroitmusicawards.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
  9. ^ Anick. ‘‘Jeremy Kittel: A Scottish Fiddles Champion Jazzes It Up.’’ ‘‘Fiddler,’’ 2008.
  10. ^ "Jeremy Kittel plays Orlando, but did visiting musicians get stuck in Siberia?". Orlando Sentinel. 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  11. ^ Moeser, Jack (2022-09-22). "Kittel and Co. impress the crowd at The Ark". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2024-08-17.