David Garrett

Jared & I went to see David Garrett in concert last night at the beautiful Moore theater (oldest operating theater in Seattle). It was, decidedly, the best concert that I've been to in years. Yes, that's right. Even better than Billy Joel. Shocking.

Reason #1 - I love David Garrett's story. You can read it here. His life reads like a movie script. Raised as a child prodigy on the violin, he was utterly submerged in classical music until his teenage years. “I’d listened to nothing but classical music until the age of fourteen,” says the now 27-year-old David, who was home-schooled until that age. “So when I started going to regular school, and started to be exposed to all this pop and rock, it was a revelation.”

Reason #2 - He can PLAY the violin. I love the sound of a well-played violin. The crisp notes, the vibrato, the slurs and broad range of sounds. But when David Garrett plays, you almost forget that you're listening to a violin and you begin to experience the music.

Reason #3 - Watching Jared's face light up as he watched David Garrett play was priceless. Watching his jaw drop when he performed a particularly incredible riff was awesome. Sharing this moment with my son was a memory I will always cherish.

Reason #4 - His reportoire was wonderfully varied. He played some classical - Bach & Paganini (my favorite piece!). And he played some contemporary "soft" music by Gershwin, Bill Withers and of his own composition. But the most fun came when he rocked out on his violin to Queen, ACDC, Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson. Here are a couple short videos that I filmed, so you can see his diversity and intensity. This wasn't your average violin recital. :-)