‘Uncivilized’ violinist breaks classical traditions
Salerno-Sonnenberg adds no-holds-barred style to Wadsworth on
Sunday
By Jennifer Richmond
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is not your typical violinist.
She doesn’t believe in playing the refined musician in the black
dress. She’s actually just the opposite.
Her style has been called "uncivilized." But that’s the way she
likes it.
"I believe that playing is basically a way of showing how you
feel. I’m not holding back any feelings when I play, or movements
or anything. I just don’t hold back at all when I’m on stage,"
Salerno-Sonnenberg explains. "In a way, especially when you’re
talking about classical music, that is a bit uncivilized because
classical music is steeped in tradition and to break those
traditional barriers is considered somewhat uncivilized."
Salerno-Sonnenberg’s concert on Sunday at the Wadsworth Theater
will be a program made up of four "very varied" pieces, including
Beethoven’s Sonata No. 2 and Richard Strauss’ Sonata, which
Salerno-Sonnenberg and her colleague, Sandra Rivers, have been
playing for a long time and Salerno-Sonnenberg considers "our
piece."
She’s chosen these pieces because they’re all a little lighter
and she and Rivers "have a good time playing them."
And she hopes the audience has a good time, too. Although she
doesn’t know who her audience will be because she doesn’t play here
that often, she hopes they enjoy what they hear.
"If they are students I certainly hope they would leave the
concert at least with an idea that classical music is a very
wonderful, vibrant art form."
While Salerno-Sonnenberg loves music, there was a time in her
late teens when she stopped playing because she was confused.
"When I stopped playing it was a pretty normal phase for any
teenager to go through because it was a matter of deciding what you
want to do for the rest of your life, and I didn’t know if this was
it. I was 18 or 19 and I started to question whether I wanted to
(play the violin) and if I could be good enough to do it, which is
a big consideration because it’s a very hard thing to do – it’s
very hard instrument, it’s a very hard life and I was old enough to
realize that."
She came back to the instrument for two reasons: "my love of
playing and the confidence that a couple of people in my life had
in me at that point. I just missed playing so much that I figured
it’s in my blood and let me give it my best effort."
She loves it so much that a day doesn’t go by when
Salerno-Sonnenberg doesn’t pick up her instrument.
"Right now I play the fiddle every single day because my
schedule is so busy and I have a lot of repertoire to learn," she
explains. "So, even if I don’t have a concert for a week or so, I
still have a lot of repertoire to learn for upcoming concerts. But
I love playing the fiddle, so now I play it every day just ’cause I
love it."
CONCERT: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg March 10 at the Veterans
Wadsworth Theater. TIX: $31.50, $28.50 and $9 with student I.D. For
info call (310) 825-2101.
Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
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