“Do you want Ozzy or
Metallica?” asked violinist Rachel Barton-Pine during her master class for Mesa
students. Rachel is a touring classical musician and heavy metal
enthusiast. To the delight of teenage students she proceeded to play a violin
rendition of a classic Ozzy Osbourne tune. This was just one of many intriguing
layers peeled back during her action-packed lecture-demo for orchestra students
at Red Mountain High School.
Rachel was a child prodigy
who performed with the Chicago Symphony at age 10, but she relates her whiz kid
past with humility by saying “I just learned quickly.” She notes that “by the
time you are 30, learning evens out for most” and from that point on she
states, “performance is about the musicality.”
Musicality was an integral
part of Rachel’s afternoon master class. “Let’s play Twinkle Little Star with
emotions.” The nursery song turned joyful, depressed and thoughtful as her
refined touch worked its magic but the real show of her musical power was made
evident when the “scary” evolution of Twinkle Little Star made the
students involuntarily jump in their seats and gasp with surprised fear. That
simple yet utterly profound little presentation brought the audience to applaud
wildly and rightly so. Rachel is a powerful musician!
Rachel’s performance of ALL
24 Paganini Caprices in one evening at Mesa Arts Center would attest to her
continued musical agility. It was astounding to watch and listen as she started
out at the top of her “game” with Caprice No.1 and never lost steam during all
24. In fact she gained momentum as she went, each piece more electric with
energy and passion than the last. Caprice No. 24 nearly blew the roof off
and we the audience, rose to our feet in admiration and acclamation of Rachel
Barton Pine: Priestess of Paganini.
Don’t miss the final
performance in the Classical Music
Inside Out series, when Natasha Paremski takes the stage to play Pictures
at an Exhibition on April 2.
By LaDawn Lingard
