The Stockton Symphony presents a concert in their Music Beyond Borders series on Friday, October 4, featuring the innovative and eclectic electric violinist Tracy Silverman. Silverman will be giving a solo performance along with commentary about his innovative instrument and his playing style, foreshadowing his return to play with the Stockton Symphony in February 2014. Delta College cohosts the virtuoso on their Stockton campus in the Tillie Lewis Theatre at 7:30 PM.
A product of the 70s, Tracy Silverman wanted to rock out with the rest of the decade in a rock and roll band. Instead of picking up the guitar he chose the violin and, after graduating from Juilliard, built one of the first-ever 6-string violins—setting his own course as a musical pioneer, designing and performing on an instrument that did not previously exist. While developing this new instrument, Silverman discovered that he had also developed a new approach to string playing. “The additional 2 lower strings open up a door not just to an additional lower register but also, surprisingly, to a new approach to using the bow. The possibility of playing the violin as a chordal instrument like the guitar forced me to invent a more complete and integrated way of using the bow which I call ʻStrum Bowingʼ.”
With his many current groups and projects, Silverman successfully emulates the true rock sound with his self-designed, six-stringed electric violin. His repertoire transcends classical and rock; it reaches from funk to folk, from eastern Indian to avant garde. His vast collection of electronic loops and pedals allow him to tap into any sound he chooses. His diversity and virtuosic technique is what brings BBC Radio to claim he is “the greatest living exponent of the electric violin.”
The world's first concert electric violinist, Silverman has been the subject of two major orchestral commissions, both composed specifically for and with Tracy: Pulitzer winner John Adamsʼ “The Dharma at Big Sur,” premiered with the LA Philharmonic at the gala opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003 and recorded with the BBC Symphony on Nonesuch Records with John Adams conducting; and legendary “Father of Minimalism” Terry Rileyʼs “The Palmian Chord Ryddle” which Silverman premiered with the Nashville Symphony in Carnegie Hall on May 12, 2012.
As a diverse electric violinist, Tracy Silverman has performed with orchestras such as The LA Philharmonic, with bands such as his newest rock project Eclectica, was first violinist with the groundbreaking Turtle Island String Quartet, and has written solo works utilizing his loop pedal and his own vocals. The LA Times calls him “inspiring” and says he “is in a class of his own.”
Visit
StocktonSymphony.org for some great video of Tracy Silverman in a variety of live performances.
Silverman will return in February 2014 to perform Kenji Bunch’s “Embrace,” a concerto for electric violin, with the full Symphony. Tickets for both concerts are on sale now and can be purchased at
StocktonSymphony.org or by calling the Symphony office at (209) 951-0196.
For more performances and information about the Stockton Symphony, please visit
www.StocktonSymphony.org, and like and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.