Give the Gift of Violinist.com This Year

Written by Laurie Niles
Published: November 29, 2014 at 7:02 PM [UTC]

Wondering what holiday gift to buy for your favorite violinist friend, student, teacher, relative or colleague?

Here's a gift that won't bust the budget (less than $20) and that will provide many hours of entertainment, inspiration and insight: Violinist.com Interviews, Vol. 1 by Laurie Niles. Yes, my book!

From the 80-some interviews I've written for Violinist.com, I chose the ones that I thought were the most interesting and put them together in a lovely book that includes pictures of the artists -- 27 artists in all. They range from Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg speaking about cutting off her fingertip, Sarah Chang describing a wardrobe mishap, Ruggiero Ricci talking about playing Paganini on Paganini's instrument, David Garrett describing the merits of acoustic violin, and many more. Violinist Hilary Hahn, who also is interviewed in the book, wrote a wonderful forward.

You can read it cover to cover, or skip around and read what looks interesting. Heck, you can page through and just look at the pretty pictures of the artists! You can leave it on the coffee table for kids, students or guests. The cover is gorgeous, like a Monet of violinist names, shaped to look like a three-dimensional violin.

Here is a list of all the artist interviews included: Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, David Garrett, Anne Akiko Meyers, Ruggiero Ricci, Maxim Vengerov, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony, Rachel Barton Pine, Nicola Benedetti, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Zachary DePue, James Ehnes, Simon Fischer, Augustin Hadelich, Janine Jansen, Leila Josefowicz and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philippe Quint, Tasmin Little, Elmar Oliveira, Stanley Ritchie, Lara St. John, Philip Setzer, Clara-Jumi Kang and Judy Kang.

I know that I'm kind of a biased source on my book, so here are some other perspectives:

"Her discussions with these artists explore the heart of the creative life and experience while covering current projects and inspirations.... Given Niles' skill at developing a rapport with her subjects, her book will prove a must-have for readers looking to get a deeper understanding of what makes their favorite artists tick." - Megan Westberg, Strings Magazine, Jan. 2015

"The Violinist.com Interviews: Volume One is a must for violin students and anyone interested in the world of violin music. Highly recommended!" - Mayra Calvani, blogcritics.org

"This looked like an interesting gift for my young violinist; she found it to be a gripping and inspirational read." - Lewis K., Amazon review

Violinist.com Interviews: Vol. 1 is available in paperback for gift-giving, as well as an eBook for Kindle, iBooks, and Nook. Happy holidays, and happy reading!

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