Mads Tolling, Danish-American violinist and composer
Mads Tolling (born July 5, 1980) is a Danish-American violinist, violist, composer and two-time Grammy Award-Winner.
As a former member of the Turtle Island Quartet and bassist Stanley Clarke’s band, Tolling is today leading his own projects and bands. He won Grammy Awards for Best Classical Crossover Album as part of Turtle Island Quartet's recordings 4+Four (2006) and A Love Supreme - The Legacy of John Coltrane (2008). He recorded on Stanley Clarke's The Toys of Men (2007). Tolling was nominated for another Grammy in the Classical Compendium Category in 2015 with the album, Mike Marshall & The Turtle Island Quartet. In 2016 he was the winner of the DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star Violin Award.
Tolling currently focuses on his solo projects, Mads Tolling & The Mads Men and the Mads Tolling Quartet, and he has recorded five albums as a bandleader. He has also received commissions to write and solo with symphony orchestras. He has performed with Chick Corea, Ramsey Lewis, Kenny Barron, Paquito D'Rivera, Leo Kottke and Sergio & Odair Assad.Born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tolling relocated to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music where he graduated Summa Cumme Laude in 2003. After graduating He received Denmark's Sankt Annae's Award for Musical Excellence as well as grants from Queen Margrethe, the Sonning Foundation and the Berklee Elvin Jones Award. Since graduating from Berklee College of Music, he has toured worldwide with the Stanley Clarke band and Turtle Island Quartet. He has also performed with Al Di Meola, Kenny Barron, Paquito D'Rivera, and Leo Kottke.