TRACY SILVERMAN
Recording artist Tracy Silverman has performed and recorded with a virtual who's who of the rock, pop, new music, and jazz fields, and is considered one of the foremost electric violinists of our time, known both in the concert hall and in clubs, with a trademark sound which is instantly recognizable. His 1999 self-produced release, "Trip to the Sun" has become a cult favorite which Billboard Magazine pronounced "the most adventurous Windham Hill album ever." The NY Times raved, "fleet agility and tangy expressivity, with wailing hints of Jimi Hendrix", the LA Times reported, "He was in constant melodic flow. Silverman is in a class of his own," and the Dallas Morning News said, "Tracy Silverman played as if he believed in every note." "Piercing and poignant" according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and Silverman's Electric Violin Concerto has been heralded by the Wichita Eagle as "the ideal piece for today's symphony."
Tracy was first violinist with the Turtle Island String Quartet for four years and has been featured as a violinist and record producer on CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood. He produced and appears on Jim Brickman 's hit "Simple Things" and "Lovesongs and Lullabies" CD's and on 2 of Jim's popular TV Specials. An international touring artist, in 1999 he was awarded Artist in Residence status by the city of Hamburg, Germany and is a frequent concert attraction in Brazil. The Rhein Zeitung wrote "...technically brilliant to the fingertips, but overthrowing all the usual preconcieved ideas". "Silverman is a fine, expressive player," said the London Guardian.
Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Adams wrote a major new electric violin concerto, The Dharma at Big Sur expressly for Tracy, ("the closest thing to a genuine collaboration I've ever done with a performer",) and he has performed it for the gala opening of the LA Philharmonic's new home, the Frank Gehry designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, with the LA Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen and will perform and record it in 2004 with the BBC Symphony in Royal Albert Hall, with the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and in with the LA Phil at WDCH and at Lincoln Center in NYC.
*2003 highlights: soloist with the LA Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen premiering "The Dharma at Big Sur" for the gala opening of the new Walt Disney Concert Hall. Solo performances at Bremen Musikfest, Germany; performances of his Electric Violin Concerto in Brazil; extensive touring with Jim Brickman; co-headlining the 2003 Windham Hill Winter Solstice Tour. Released this year: 2 tracks on Windham Hill's Prayer CD, 1 track on Windham Hill's Christmas II CD, 1 track on Windham Hill's Adagio CD. The Electric Violin Concerto was cited for Special Distinction in the ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Award.
*2004 highlights: Performance of "The Dharma at Big Sur" with the LA Phil at the Orange County PAC, Cabrillo Festival with the Cabrillo Festival Orch, in London's Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Symphony where it will also be recorded; touring Brazil to perform the Silverman Electric Violiin Concerto which will be choreographed by the state Ballet of Parana and recorded for an upcoming CD; extensive touring with Jim Brickman; Co-headlining the '04-'05 Windham Hill Winter Solstice Tour; Co-headlining the Windham Hill America Tour.
*Education: Tracy has been playing violin since he was 5 years old, and made his professional debut at age thirteen as 1st place winner and soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has been honored with many awards, including the national Stillman-Kelly Award. He was accepted at the Chicago Musical College when he was 16 and at 17 began studies with legendary teacher Ivan Galamian. Tracy graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied chamber music with Sam Rhodes of the Juilliard Quartet and Lewis Kaplan of the Aeolian Chamber Players. He has served on the faculty of Macalester College in St. Paul and University of Minnesota's MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis and has led masterclasses and workshops at Stanford University, Oberlin Conservatory, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Hochschule fur die Kunste in Bremen as well as others in Germany, Brazil and elsewhere.
*Performance highlights include: Carnegie Hall with Billy Taylor; mainstage of the Montreal Jazz festival; Vienna's Mozartsalle; Istanbul's Rey Concert Hall; The Hollywood Bowl; tours with Bob Geldof, new-age/pop pianist Jim Brickman, famed minimalist comp[oser/pianist Terry Riley as part of the Terry Riley All-Stars; The Umbria Jazz Festival; Festival Inverno in Brazil; Mozartfest in Wurzburg; Bremen Musikfest; as a soloist at the Nurnberg Jazz Festival; Royal Festival Hall as part of London's 2001 Meltdown Festival, among many others; classical guitarists Eliot Fisk, David Tanenbaum, Alvaro Pierri, Gyan Riley and the Newman-Oltman Guitar Duo: as soloist with symphonies including The Berkeley Philarmonic conducted by Kent Negano, Orquestra Jazz Sinfonica in Sao Paulo; The San Jose Symphony as well as orchestras conducted by Marin Alsop, Carl St. Claire and others.
*Producer,and arranger/orchestrator credits include: producer of Jim Brickman's latest hit CD, "Simple Things", [which includes the #1 song "Simple Things"]; work with legendary producers Steve Lillywhite and Jerry Harrison; producer of "On A Starry Night ", an award-winning CD of lullabies from around the world which featured Bobby McFerrin, Billy Taylor, George Winston, Richard Stoltzman, Airto and many others; award-winning jazz innovator Paul Hanson; flutist and long-time musical and otherwise partner and wife, Thea Suits. Tracy appears as a featured artist, arranger and producer on many recordings, including Universal's "A Different Mozart" and "Preludes", and Windham Hill's "Winter Solstice 5", "Summer Solstice", "Sundance", "The Romantics", "Renaissance-A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Thanksgiving" and many other Windham Hill Collections. Orchestrator and musical director of Jim Brickman's "My Romance" PBS Special; arranged and orchestrated a complete program of Jim's music for full symphony, performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony, Atlanta Symphony among others.
*National TV, radio and press: CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood feature; CNN; NPR's Performance Today : MPR's St. Paul Sunday Morning ; MPR's A Prairie Home Companion ; Billy Taylor's "Jazz from the Kennedy Center", John Schaeffer's "New Sounds" on WNYC, Echoes Radio "Living Room Concerts," Acoustic Cafe, Comcast Studio C, Billboard Magazine, People Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wichita Eagle.
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