Jeremy Kittel is an American musician and composer. 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.Cahill TISQ Honored with a Grammy Strings, 2006 and has worked with many prominent artists, including Tally Hall, Sabrina Carpenter, 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 for his undergraduate degree and earned his master's degree in jazz violin from the Manhattan School of Music in 2007.

Jeremy Kittel has performed as a soloist with many orchestras including the Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic and Orlando Philharmonic. He was a guest on A Prairie Home Companion twice 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. 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;‘‘Alumni Society Emerging Artists 2010’’ 2010‘‘Alumni as Mentors’’ 2010 the Detroit Music Award for Outstanding Folk Artist, Outstanding Jazz Recording and Outstanding Jazz composer; and the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championship.Anick. ‘‘Jeremy Kittel: A Scottish Fiddles Champion Jazzes It Up.’’ ‘‘Fiddler,’’ 2008.

In 2015, Kittel co-composed the symphonic work Bull Frogs Croon with Aoife O'Donovan and Teddy Abrams, and it was performed by him 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 early American music. 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.

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 2018Whorls [Kittel & Co.] 2010 Chasing Sparks 2005 Jazz Violin 2003 Roaming2000 Celtic Fiddle

Other Recordings, etc.

Year Title Medium Credit2024Shawn (Shawn Mendes)AlbumString Arranger, Violin, Viola2024Telos (Zedd)AlbumString & Orchestral Arranger, Violin, Viola2023The Way Things Used to Be (Zac Zinger)AlbumFeatured soloist2022The Bridge (Jazz Mafia, Otis McDonald, Adam Theis)SingleViolin solo [recorded in 2012]2022Infinite Space (SÍOMHA)AlbumStrings Arranger, Violin, Viola2021Ascension (Antwaun Stanley and Tyler Duncan)AlbumViolin, Viola2021Ultramodern (Ruen Brothers)AlbumViolin, Viola2021Pin-Up Daddy (Rett Madison)AlbumViolin, Viola2020Wendy (Film, Searchlight Pictures)FilmViola2020Bull Frogs Croon (and Other Songs) (Aoife O'Donovan)AlbumProducer, Arranger, Co-composer, Performer2020Modern Johnny Sings: Songs in the Age of Vibe (Theo Katzman)AlbumStrings Arranger, Violin, Viola2020Perfect Song (Sabrina Carpenter)SingleViolin, Viola2020Joel Adams (Joel Adams)AlbumViolin, Viola2019WWE 2K20 (2K Games)Video GameViolin, Viola2019Noisy Feelings (Ryan Lerman)AlbumViolin, Viola2019Borderless Lullabies (Esperanza Spalding, Morley, others)AlbumViolin, Viola2018What They Had (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)AlbumViolin, Viola, Improvisations2017Mother Lion (May Erlewine)AlbumViolin2017A Series of Unfortunate Events (The Ersatz Elevator: Part One)TVViolin2017Crack-Up (Fleet Foxes)AlbumViolin 2016 Sing Me Home (Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble)Album Arranger, "Going Home" feat. Abigail Washburn2016The Raven's Rock (Cillian Vallely)AlbumFiddle2014Notify (Padraig Rynne)AlbumViolin, Viola2013Mike Marshall and the Turtle Island Quartet (Turtle Island Quartet, Mike Marshall)AlbumViola2013Dot the Dragon's Eyes (Hanneke Cassel)AlbumFiddle, Viola2013Go Down Singing (single, Michelle Chamuel)AlbumViolin, 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, Viola2013Warp and Weft (Laura Veirs)AlbumStrings Arranger, Violin, Viola2013Starcraft II: Heart of the SwarmVideo GameViolin, Viola2012Half-Made Man (Ben Sollee)AlbumViolin, Viola, Fiddle2012Epic Mickey 2Video GameViolin, Viola 2011 Circuital (My Morning Jacket) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola 2011 Send It Down (Kai Welch) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola2011Kinect: Disneyland AdventuresVideo GameViolin, Viola2011Infamous 2Video GameViolin, Viola2010Have You Ever Been (Turtle Island Quartet)AlbumViola, Arranger 2010 City of Refuge (Abigail Washburn) Album Strings Arranger, Violin, Viola2010Istiqbal Gathering (John Jorgensen and Orchestra Nashville)AlbumViola (in Turtle Island Quartet)2008This Here (Seth Bernard)AlbumViolin, Fiddle2007No Regrets (John Nam)AlbumViolin2006Fiddle Camp (Mark O'Connor and Guests)AlbumViolin, Fiddle2006Gypsy Djazz (The Detroit Swingtet)AlbumViolin2005Cinnamon Matinee (Ben Cyllus)AlbumViolin2006Gypsy Djazz (The Detroit Swingtet)AlbumViolin2005Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Tally Hall)AlbumViolin2004Songs of Innocence and Experience (William Bolcom)AlbumViolin

References