Hilary Hahn on Violinist.com

Sirius/XM Radio invitation

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:40:25 GMT

A special invitation from Sirius XM Radio for friends in New York City!

SIRIUS XM Radio is assembling a small audience of friends and listeners of HILARY HAHN for a special studio taping on January 12, 2010 at 1:30pm in New York City (Manhattan).

Seating is extremely limited. There are only ten (10) spots available and winners will be chosen based on the first ten (10) emails received. Each winner may bring one guest.
& nbsp;
- & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp;Send an email to: rsvp@siriusxm.com

- & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp;Include & ldquo;Hilary Hahn & rdquo; in the subject line of your message or it will not be considered

- & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp;Include your full name, valid email and cell phone number

SIRIUS XM Radio will not be providing transportation to/from the event. You must be at least 18 years old, and confident that you can be in New York City on January 12, 2010.*

*If you are selected to attend, you will receive a second email with the exact time of the event and further instructions. Only people who have received this second email (and have been confirmed by SIRIUS|XM Radio) will be put on the guest list and will be able to attend.

To Tweet, or Not To Tweet?

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:40:30 GMT

Note from Laurie: Hilary wrote this in response to an ArtsJournal blog by her publicist, Amanda Ameer, in which Amanda confessed that, while live-Tweeting a concert (for Twitter, and yes we are all still figuring out what exactly Twitter is!) & quot;It seems I had missed a few things whilst clicking. & quot; So she asked Hilary: Is it okay to & quot;Tweet & quot; during a live performance, for the sake of spreading the news? Here is Hilary's answer:

...........................

I'm all for Tweeting and spreading the word, but not during performances. Between pieces, maybe, if you can stop when the music starts up again; while standing in line for the restroom, definitely; at intermission or on the train afterwards, definitely. The problem is that acoustic performers rely on the audience's attention and focus and can tell when the audience isn't mentally present. Your listening is part of our interpretive process. If you're not really listening, we're not getting the feedback of energy from the hall, and then we might as well be practicing for a bunch of people peering in the window. It's just not as interesting when the cycle of interpretation is broken.

If you are Tweeting, then you might as well check your emails, and then you might as well just turn on the camera and make a recording for YouTube, and then you might as well have a little chat online while you're at it, or play a game of Tetris or Scrabble, or write down ideas for that presentation you have to give next week. In that case, really, the question is, why are you here? Are you enjoying the beauty of the live concert experience, in which moments are fleeting and you have to get caught up in the flow because it will never be the same again?

There's also the distraction factor. The stage is a great vantage point and a prime spot of acoustical convergence. It may be possible for you to do multiple things at once, but the same may not be true of the performers and your fellow audience members. They may not be able to keep themselves from wondering what you're writing instead of just listening and concentrating on their own individual experiences. You may not be able to delve into your own listening experience if you're thinking about what other people should be thinking.

Finally, it seems to me that listeners make things difficult for themselves by observing themselves in the third person and putting their thoughts into a narrative before those thoughts can fully form. I feel that concerts can be a break from outside pressures and influences. For audience members, a concert should be like a vacation on a distant beach with a stack of good books. Comfortable seats. No one trying to call you. No one breaking into your trains of thought. No way to reach the outside world. Just a time to shut off and calm down and treat yourself to something truly wonderful. If we can't sit through a classical concert we pay decent money for, and we can't take two hours out of an evening to shut out everyone else's demands and opinions and thoughts, where does that leave us?

The winning Schoenburger, at last!

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:52:01 GMT

Thank you to all of the participants in the first-ever (that I know of) Schoenburger recipe contest, suggested by violinist.com member Stephen Brivati. I enjoyed reading the submissions.

Congratulations to 14-year-old winner Sayre P.! This recipe may be sweeter than Schoenberg & rsquo;s reputation, but it & rsquo;s imaginative and thoughtful. According to reliable sources, Schoenberg loved birthdays & ndash; so I just had to honor this entry. Here & rsquo;s the winner:

In honor of Arnold Schoenberg & rsquo;s 134th birthday on September 13th, my Schoenburger is a sweet and delectable & ldquo;birthday burger. & rdquo; My recipe follows:

Bun- sponge cake, frosted with maple brown sugar icing, topped with Rice Krispies in place of sesame seeds

Burger patty- chocolate cake coated with Oreo crumbs

Lettuce- green gummy worms

Pickles- kiwi

Cheese- a slab of the sponge cake, slathered with yellow sprinkles

Ketchup- strawberry sauce

Mustard- yellow apricot sauce

And you can & rsquo;t forget a candle to sing Mr. S & ldquo;Happy Birthday! & rdquo;

So, why use the ingredients I chose? Here are some of my reasons:

Gummy worms are hard to chew, which reminds me of Schoenberg & rsquo;s Fantasy for Violin and Piano- it has unusual chords and fingering in the violin part

Rice Krispies are my favorite cereal, and I eat them most every day- just like I & ldquo;digest & rdquo; Schoenberg & rsquo;s music on a daily basis

Chocolate cake is a favorite & ldquo;food & rdquo; of Americans, similar to Schoenberg & rsquo;s & ldquo;Weihnachtmusik & rdquo; is a traditional Christmas song

Kiwi skins are tough on the outside, like a first impression of Schoenberg. But once you get past that and learn about his past, you will find his reasoning for his style of composure, and really start to enjoy his music- just like you enjoy the sweet meat of the kiwi after you get past the skin

The dark Oreo crumbs represent a badly cooked patty, which aligns with one of Schoenberg & rsquo;s famous quotes: & ldquo;My music is not modern, it is merely badly played. & rdquo;

Finally, my burger was overcooked for exactly 13 minutes- representing Schoenberg & rsquo;s triskaidekaphobia, or fear of the number 13, which may have been the root of his death

And because not everyone & rsquo;s experiences with Schoenberg are positive, I award an honorable mention to the final words of 22-year-old Daniel Fuchs & rsquo;s recipe:

& quot;When you have finished creating your Schoenburger, don & rsquo;t be disappointed if it tastes disgusting. This is absolutely normal. There are two ways to deal with that problem:

First, you can try the burger again and again. Perhaps one day you might like it. Perhaps you aren & rsquo;t mature enough for it yet.

Second, you can just tell other people you like it very much. Probably they will admire your intelligent and progressive taste. ;) & quot;
& nbsp;

Celebrate Schoenberg

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:16:05 GMT

At the end of last season, after a concert, a group of girls came up to me with an art card they'd created. It read, "Hilary Hahn Sleepover!" and was covered with all sorts of birthday references. Turns out my concert was part of a bigger event; all the kids had attended to start off the birthday girl's sleepover, and they were on their way to her house for the rest of the party. I thought that was a terrific idea. When I was their age, I loved birthday sleepovers. It was such a treat to go to TGI Friday's for dinner and then go to a movie en masse, decorate the cake together, and, the next morning, to wake up on the living room floor surrounded by friends. (Apparently I talked in my sleep on several occasions.) Finally, we'd rush to the table for animal-shaped pancakes, and then the parents would arrive to drive everyone home. But no one I knew ever went to a big event to kick it all off.

I thought this group's concert sleepover sounded like so much fun, I started trying to figure out other ways to connect birthdays and musical events. I wanted to honor a more unlikely subject than a pre-teen: someone who might not have had a sleepover within the past twenty years: someone important: someone wry yet perceived as humorless, who would in all actuality get a kick out of a random mass birthday event:

Someone like Arnold Schoenberg.

Having just released a recording of Schoenberg's unfairly neglected Violin Concerto, I was fired up. Not that this year would bring a particularly big anniversary; that would have been too symmetrical. This would be simply his 134th birthday, as good an excuse as any to bring people together in his memory. But now I needed a plan. Arnold Schoenberg Sleepovers? I tried to imagine a vast array of music dorks (like me) of all ages, ordering peanut-butter-sandwich cakes in the shape of Schoenberg's head, making crafts modeled on tone rows or building miniature instruments, and then, at the end of the evening, laying out the sleeping bags and drifting off to the Sprechstimme dreamland of Pierrot Lunaire. Or Schoenberg Listening Parties? � at which people would gather on steel-and-leather sofas to roll their own cigarettes and talk musical philosophy over a marathon of notes before passing out, drunk on theory and innovation. Maybe costume parties themed on the number 13? I pictured some odd gatherings indeed. I couldn't think of any context that would draw everyone in.

Then it occurred to me that I could provide a location where everyone interested could join together � people from many different backgrounds and ages, who didn't know each other, who were all either fans of Schoenberg or curious about him. A channel on YouTube seemed like the best location; I could post self-recorded answers to questions I'd receive before the big day, September 13, and viewers could post video responses to anything under the sun (as long as it's kid-friendly). We could create a nice little tribute to the composer. And all of us dorks and geeks would be happy.

Thus the Hilary Hahn YouTube channel was born. It will launch on September 13. In the end, then, Schoenberg not only pushed me in new directions with his violin concerto, he led me to experiment on the Web � Schoenberg, a man who never even heard of the Internet. Something tells me he'd enjoy that irony.

If you'd like to submit a question about Schoenberg for me to answer on YouTube, please post them in the comment section below, or you can e-mail questions(at)firstchairpromo.com.