Renowned electric violinist to perform

Tracy Silverman, called "the greatest living exponent of the electric violin" by BBC Radio, will present a concert at Northwestern College's Christ Chapel on Friday, Oct. 7, at 7:30 p.m. The event is sponsored by Northwestern  and the Orange City Arts Council.

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 graduated from the Juilliard School  in 1980, then built one of the first ever six-string violins. Ever since, he's been a musical pioneer--designing, building and performing on an instrument that did not previously exist.

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 in 2003. 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 Los Angeles 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."

More recently the Nashville Symphony commissioned a new electric violin concerto for Silverman, which he will perform with the symphony at Carnegie Hall next May.

Silverman performed with pop pianist Jim Brickman at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls in December. He's recorded with musicians like Roy Wooten of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Terry Riley, Zakir Hussein, Rachel Barton Pine and Daniel Bernard Roumain.

The Orange City performance brings together new music with world and pop influences, Silverman's reinventions of Bach, Hendrix and others, plus works by Adams and Riley. Silverman will conduct a master class for MOC-FV and Unity high school strings players from 12:15 to 1:45 p.m. on Oct. 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.