Tracy Silverman Offers Workshop for Pacific Conservatory of Music Students

Tracy Silverman, who will be giving a solo performance along with commentary about his innovative instrument and his playing style Friday evening, will be giving a workshop for string students at Pacific's Conservatory of Music. The workshop, open to the public for viewing, will be held at Pacific's Recital Hall and begins at 2:00 p.m. The students will bring their musical instruments to work with Silverman and receive feedback. He will be explaining his unique violin and bowing style.

Silverman will be performing later that evening at Tillie Lewis Theatre on the Delta College campus at 7:30 p.m.

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 ?Strum Bowing?."

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 Adams? "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 Riley?s "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 http://stocktonsymphony.org/music-beyond-boarders/ 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 http://stocktonsymphony.org/buy-ticket/ 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.