Electric violinist Tracy Silverman is in a class of his own, according to the LA Times. He performed with Jim Brickman at the Sioux Falls Washington Pavilion in December, and will perform with the Nashville Symphony in Carnegie Hall in May. His concert at Northwestern College's Christ Chapel will be Friday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by the Orange City Arts Council and Northwestern College.
ORANGE CITY – BBC Radio says he’s “the greatest living exponent of the electric violin.”
That’s Tracy Silverman. He graduated from the Juilliard School in 1980, then built one of the first ever six-string violins. Since then he’s been a musical pioneer – designing, building and performing on an instrument that did not previously exist.
And he’s coming to Orange City – October 7.
Eight years ago, Pulitizer Prize-winning composer John Adams’ electric violin concerto “The Dharma at Big Sur,” written for and with Silverman, single-handedly legitimized the electric violin. Adams called his work with Silverman “the closest thing to a genuine collaboration I’ve ever done with a performer.
“Tracy has developed his own unique style of violin playing – a marvel of expressiveness,” said Adams.
At the premier of the symphony, the LA Times raved, “Inspiring. Silverman is in a class of his own.” The Chicago Tribune wrote of Silverman’s “blazing virtuosity. You will be astonished that anybody can play a fiddle like that.”
Silverman has performed the piece everywhere from the Lincoln Center and the Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Silverman performed with pop pianist Jim Brickman at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls in December. He’s recorded with everyone from Roy Wooten of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones to Terry Riley, Zakir Hussein, Rachel Barton Pine and Daniel Bernard Roumain.
And, the Nashville Symphony commissioned a new electric violin concerto for him, which will be performed by Silverman and the Symphony at Carnegie Hall in May.
The Oct. 7 performance brings together new music with world and pop influences, Silverman’s reinventions of Bach, Hendrix and others, plus works by Adams and Riley.
The concert will be held at Northwestern College Christ Chapel Friday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by the Orange City Arts Council and Northwestern College. Tickets are $9 for adults and $4 for students, and are available at the Northwestern College Music Department, Dove Christian Bookstore and the Orange City Arts Council. At the door, tickets are $12 and $7.
Silverman will conduct a master class for MOC-FV and Unity high school strings players from 12:15 to 1:45 p.m. on October 7, at MOC-Floyd Valley High School. The students will join Silverman at the concert in “Blue Fire Fiddler.”
For more information on the concert or master class, contact the Orange City Arts Council, OCArts@orangecityiowa.com, www.orangecityarts.net or 712.707.4885. Read more and hear Silverman’s music at www.tracysilverman.com.
