Lenny Solomon (born 28 September 1952) is a Canadian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, pop, and classical

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. An active studio musician, he has performed on hundreds of recordings and soundtracks, He has also recorded two of his own jazz albums: ''After You've Gone'' and ''The Gershwin Sessions''. He has appeared as a guest soloist with a number of orchestras, including the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto ...

and the

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its primary concert venue is the Centennial Concert Hall, and the orchestra also performs throughout the province of Manitoba. The WSO presents an average ...

, and has served as

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...

for a variety of theatrical entertainments. He was awarded ''The Jazz Report'' 's Violinist of the Year award three times. Solomon was born in Toronto. He attended

Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute Vaughan Road Academy (VRA), formerly known as Vaughan Road High School and Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute, is a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) facility that formerly operated as an International Baccalaureate high school in Toronto, Ont ...

alongside his also musically talented older sister Maribeth. His father, Stanley Solomon, was a principal violinist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Lenny studied under violinists Albert Pratz and

Steven Staryk Steven Sam Staryk, OC (born 27 April 1932) is a Canadian violin virtuoso. He had a distinguished solo career and was concertmaster of several major orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Concertgeb ...

. In 1969, Solomon co-founded the Canadian folk-pop music group Myles and Lenny together with Myles Cohen. Myles & Lenny performed and recorded during most of the 1970s, won the 1976

Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year The Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year is presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to the best new musical group in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories ...

and then parted ways. In 1982, Solomon formed the pop string quintet Quintessence with guitarist Bill Bridges. They made a few recordings for Duke Street Records and toured throughout Canada during the 1980s. During the 1990s, Solomon toured with the Lenny Solomon Trio, which was dedicated to jazz violin. In 1997, with violinist Moshe Hammer and pianist

Bernie Senensky Bernard Melvin Senensky (born December 31, 1944) is a Canadian jazz pianist, organist, and composer. Life and career Senensky was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on December 31, 1944.Yanow, Scot"Bernie Senensky" AllMusic. Retrieved February 26, 2015 ...

, he founded The Galaxy Trio, which blended classical and jazz styles and recorded one CD. In 2000 Solomon established the chamber group Trio Norté, which released one album in 2002, and the violin ensemble

Bowfire Bowfire is a Canadian musical group from Ontario, featuring multiple violins, led by violinist and composer Lenny Solomon. They perform an eclectic mix of classical music, jazz, bluegrass music, celtic music, rock music, and world music.

which made its debut performance at

Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were expe ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Germany. Bowfire was internationally successful and toured the world until 2015. In 2015, Lenny enlisted Marc Ganetakos and longtime collaborator and bassist Shelly Berger to help write and perform on his new album, ''The Blues Violin''. As of 2019, Solomon was the music director of the

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

tribute band Elton Rohn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Lenny 1952 births Canadian composers Canadian male composers Canadian classical violinists Male classical violinists Canadian jazz violinists Juno Award winners Musicians from Toronto Living people 21st-century classical violinists 21st-century Canadian male musicians Canadian male jazz musicians 21st-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers Canadian male violinists and fiddlers