Friday, September 23, 2016

The Paganini Recognition: A Familiar Melody Performed by Eric Silberger

Violinist Eric Silberger and soprano Amy Shoremount-Obra of the Hawaii International Music Festival (image: Hawaii News Now)

Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

Last month while getting ready to head out to work, part of my routine is to have the television morning news  playing in the background. One of the Hawaii News Now Sunrise reporters, Howard Dicus, was interviewing a violinist by the name of Eric Silberger. The interview was short and Silberger was promoting the Hawaii International Music Festival which would have its Honolulu premiere that evening.

Silberger was also performing Paganini's 24th Caprice on the news program. As soon as Silberger began performing the first few notes, I immediately stopped what I was doing and was mesmerized. Number one I knew the melody very well from Andrew Lloyd Webber's treatment of the piece into his Variations score for rock group which went full circle and re-adapted for classical performance. Anyone who has read the many posts of this blog, the music of Lloyd Webber is a force behind the joy I find in music and musical theater. Number two I wanted to see this violinist perform live.

It seemed like it was fate. The previous Friday in the entertainment section I had book marked a page listing the performers of the festival. I thought it might be a pleasant Wednesday evening to hear these artists at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. I had forgotten about the article until that morning. Seeing Silberger perform on television was the clincher to attend the festival that evening.

Above is a link to the Hawaii News Now Sunrise video where Silberger is interviewed and performs Paganini's 24th Caprice. Below is a YouTube video performance of the same piece.  Just for fun hear the Lloyd Webber rock band version in the second video below.



0 comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...