Tracy Silverman’s performance, with the support of the Stockton Symphony, at the Atherton Auditorium was exhilarating.
Silverman, the world’s first concert electric violinist, headlined the “Symphony in the Groove” event.
Peter Jaffe, music director and conductor of the Stockton Symphony, said the purpose of the event was to explore the use of various grooves found in different compositions of music.
“A groove,” Jaffe said, “it’s all about patterns, setting up patterns that repeat over and over again, in a beautifully hypnotic way.”
Silverman gave a rendition of Kenji Bunch’s composition of “Embrace.”
With an electrical twist, Silverman masterfully mixed unorthodox finger picking with classic violin bow strumming during the unique piece.
Silverman’s violin sounded like a rough electrical guitar at first, while he was finger picking, but it would digress back to a smooth violin sound as he would strum with a bow.
Silverman’s performance was enhanced by the use of a pedal board for his violin, which he used to record and play back a loop in real time. This gave the effect of multiple electrical violinists playing alongside him.
Silverman and the Stockton Symphony weren’t the only ones performing during the event, the crowd joined in by clapping and chanting when signaled by Jaffe during specific motions of the performance.
After Silverman finished his concert, the Stockton Symphony gave enjoyable renditions of Rossini Overture to William Tell theme song to “The Lone Ranger,” J.S Bach’s “Little” Fugue in G Minor, Falla “The Miller’s Dance and Final Dance from “The Three-Cornered Hat.”
As Jaffe closed the concert, he reminded the patrons that the Stockton Symphony always welcomes new guests.
Jaffe said he hopes to see concertgoers attend future events.
