Pine tours worldwide as a soloist with prestigious orchestras, has an active recording career, and has run the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation since 2001, which provides services and funding to promote classical music education and performances.[4]
Early life
Pine was born in Chicago, and began playing the violin at age 3 after being inspired by the example of older girls playing at her church. She debuted with the Chicago String Ensemble at age 7, and with the Chicago Symphony under the baton of Erich Leinsdorf at age 10. Her passion for violin compelled her to practice 4 or 5 hours a day as a second grader, prompting her elementary school principal to encourage her parents to begin home schooling,[5] which allowed her to focus on her music, practicing 8 hours a day. Her principal teachers were Roland and Almita Vamos of the Music Institute of Chicago. At age 14, she began taking paid gigs playing at weddings and in orchestras, which allowed her to contribute significantly to her family's income as they experienced financial difficulties. Explaining how she managed, she says, "I put on a lot of makeup and pretended I was older than I was."[6]
Her premieres of pieces by living composers include "Rush" for solo violin by Augusta Read Thomas,[9]Mohammed Fairouz's "Native Informant" Sonata for Solo Violin and "Al-Andalus" Violin Concerto, and the Panamanian premiere of Panamanian composer Roque Cordero's 1962 Violin Concerto. In April 2017, Pine performed solo violin with the Phoenix Symphony under the baton of Tito Munoz debuting the Violin Concerto, "Dependent Arising" by Earl Maneein (b. 1976). Her "American Partitas" is a recital program of suites of dance movements composed for Pine by Bruce Molsky, Darol Anger, Billy Childs, and Daniel Bernard Roumain written in response to the Bach Partitas for solo violin paired with their Bach counterparts.[10]
In addition to her mixed recital programs, Pine has regularly given single evening performances of the six Bach Sonatas and Partitas,[11] the 24 Paganini Caprices,[12] and the complete Brahms Sonatas.
Pine performing in 2008
In 2015, Pine released her debut Avie Records recording Mozart: Complete Violin Concertos with one of her "musical heroes" conductor Sir Neville Marriner and The Academy of St Martin in the Fields.[13] Pine grew up listening to Sir Neville and The Academy of St Martin in the Fields' recordings and their performance on the Amadeus movie soundtrack. Studying Mozart's operas she gained an appreciation for the drama, playfulness and flirtation of his violin concertos featured on the new album.[14] The recording also contains Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, recorded with violist Matthew Lipman, a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient.[15]
Pine started exploring esteemed violin concertos and the concertos that inspired them with Brahms and Joachim Violin Concertos, recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conductor Carlos Kalmar in 2002.[16] Her 2008 Beethoven & Clement Violin Concertos, recorded with The Royal Philharmonic and conducted by Serebrier, offered the world premiere recording of Clement's D major Violin Concerto.[17]
Her 2013 recording with pianist Matthew Hagle, Violin Lullabies, debuted at number one on the Billboard classical chart.[18] Pine's recording of Violin Concertos by Black Composers of the 18th and 19th Centuries was nominated for a National Public Radio Heritage Award.[19]
Carl Fischer Music recently[when?] published a sheet music book of cadenzas and virtuosic encore pieces composed by Pine, as well as her arrangements of other works for violin and piano, as part of its Masters Collection. Pine became the first living composer and first woman to be so honored.[20] Pine has also edited a 4-volume collection of compositions associated with America's pioneering female solo violinist Maud Powell,[21][22] many of which she has also recorded.[23] In 2014. Pine helped to accept a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award on behalf of Maud Powell, after successfully campaigning the Recording Academy for the honor.[24]
Pine performs chamber music as part of Trio Settecento with David Schrader and John Mark Rozendaal, and with the Jupiter Chamber Players. In 2015, Trio Settecento released Veracini's Complete Sonate Accademiche for Violin and Continuo.[25] The Trio's Grand Tour collection of four CDs on Cedille Records takes listeners on a country-by-country of the European Baroque.
Her principal instrument is the 1742 'ex-Bazzini, Soldat' violin of Guarneri del Gesu. For seventeenth- and eighteenth-century pieces, she has often used an unaltered 1770 instrument of Nicolò Gagliano I.[26]
Her taste in rock runs to heavy metal, with AC/DC, Anthrax, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Megadeth, Metallica, Motörhead, Pantera, Slayer, and Van Halen being among her favorites.[7][27] She has met and played with a number of these groups. In 1997, she released a heavy-metal-inspired recording. "In practicing and preparing those songs, I discovered that a lot of the heavy metal I'd been listening to was some of the most sophisticated compositionally of all rock music, and very inspired by classical music," Pine has said, "Then all these people in ripped jeans started coming to my concerts."[5]
In February 2009, she joined the thrash/doom metal band Earthen Grave, where she performs on a six-string Viperelectric violin. The band has shared the stage with metal bands such as Pentagram, Black Label Society, Mayhem, and Nachtmystium. The group released an EP, Dismal Times.[28] Doommantia.com proclaimed that Earthen Grave has "all the songwriting capabilities to make one of the best albums ever."[29] and HellrideMusic.com said "If the doom gods are with us, this band will stay around and continue to produce the kind of unique, powerful and thoughtful music contained on Dismal Times."[30] Pine credits her experience playing in a rock band with improving her emotional rapport with her audiences.[31]
Pine often brings a new twist to her coaching sessions with chamber music and youth orchestras, by incorporating orchestral versions of rock pieces into her sessions. For example, Pine offered the world premiere of her own arrangement of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" with the McHenry County Youth Symphony (Crystal Lake, IL) in November 2009. In May 2015, she premiered her "Shredding with the Symphony" program with the Lafayette Symphony, which features music from Shostakovich, Bruch, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Sibelius, and Paganini as well as Van Halen, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Rush, Nirvana, Metallica and Led Zeppelin.[32]
Bill McGlaughlin called her a "musical Pac-Man" for her ability to take in and perform so many different kinds of music.[33] She has often performed at schools and on rock music radio stations in an effort to interest younger audiences in classical music.
Pine was inducted as an honorary member of Sigma Alpha Iota in 2003.[8] She performed at the music fraternity's 45th national convention during summer 2009 in Chicago.
On July 11, 2010, Pine gave a three-part performance at Chicago's Millennium Park as part of the Great Performers of Illinois celebration. After initially performing on baroque violin with Trio Settecento, she soloed in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and then switched gears again to perform in black leather on her electric violin with Earthen Grave. In conjunction with the event, she received the 2010 Great Performer of Illinois award.[34][35]
Pine started a foundation in 2001 to promote the study and appreciation of classical music, including string music by black composers such as Jessie Montgomery, Edward W. Hardy, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson and Wynton Marsalis.[37] It prepares music curricula on black composers, loans high-quality instruments to deserving young musicians, and provides grants to cover incidental expenses (such as for supplemental lessons, accompanists, sheet music, travel, competition entrance fees, instrument repair, and audition recordings) of students and young professional musicians. Another program, Global HeartStrings, is dedicated to supporting aspiring classical musicians from developing countries.[38] In this effort, Barton Pine has been aided by a younger sister, Hannah Barton, also a violinist.[39]
In 2006, after being nominated by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Barton Pine received the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award for her work through the foundation.[40] She has also been given the 2012 Karl Haas Prize for Music Education for this work and her other education-related efforts.[41]
On January 16, 1995, Pine was severely injured in a train accident in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, where she taught violin lessons.[2][44][45][46][47] As she was exiting a Metra commuter train with her violin over her shoulder, the doors closed on the strap to her case, pinning her left shoulder to the train. The doors, which were controlled remotely and had no safety sensors, failed to reopen, and she was dragged 366 feet (112 meters) by the train before being pulled underneath and run over, severing one leg and mangling the other. Pine was saved by the prompt application of tourniquets by several passengers who disembarked from the train after pulling its emergency brake handles.[44]
She sued Metra and the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company for compensation for her injuries and legal and medical expenses. Metra argued that she made the choice not to extricate her arm from the strap of the violin case due to the value of the instrument, a 400-year-old Amati valued at around $500,000, and thus she carried most of the blame for her injuries. The jury ruled in Pine's favor.[45] Metra changed its conductor safety procedures following the incident and made other changes to the trains themselves.
Daniel Barenboim, the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, organized a benefit concert and raised over $75,000 after she was injured.[44] After a two-year hiatus to allow for recovery from her injuries, aided by numerous surgeries and physical therapy, Pine resumed her career.[2]
Personal life
In 2004,[48] Barton married Greg Pine, a health care consulting firm CEO and former minor league baseball pitcher.[49] They have one daughter, Sylvia, who is also an accomplished violinist and composer, and sometimes performs with her mother.
Stringendo: Storming the Citadel with Edgar Gabriel (violin) and Brandon Vamos (cello) – Cacophony Records, 1997[54]
Instrument of the Devil with Patrick Sinozich (piano), David Schrader (harpsichord), John Mark Rozendaal (cello) and John Bruce Yeh (clarinet) – Cedille Records, 1998: CDR 90000 041[55]
Double Play: Twentieth Century Duos for Violin and Cello with Wendy Warner (cello) – Cedille Records, 1998: CDR 90000 047[56]
American Virtuosa: Tribute to Maud Powell with Matthew Hagle (piano)[61] – Cedille Records, 2006: CDR 90000 097[23]
An Italian Sojourn by Trio Settecento, with David Schrader (harpsichord) and John Mark Rozendaal (baroque cello) – Cedille Records, 2007: CDR 90000 099[62]
Dismal Times by Earthen Grave, with Mark Weiner (vocals), Tony Spillman (guitar), Jason Muxlow (guitar), Ron Holzner (bass, vocals), and Scott Davidson (drums) – 2009[28]
A German Bouquet by Trio Settecento, with David Schrader (harpsichord and organ) and John Mark Rozendaal (viola da gamba and baroque cello) – Cedille Records, 2009: CDR 90000 114[64]
A French Soirée by Trio Settecento, with David Schrader (harpsichord) and John Mark Rozendaal (viola da gamba) – Cedille Records, 2011: CDR 90000 129[67]
Earthen Grave by Earthen Grave, with Mark Weiner (vocals), Tony Spillman (guitar), Jason Muxlow (guitar), Ron Holzner (bass, vocals), Scott Davidson (drums) and guest vocalist Kristin Joy Elane – Claude and Elmo Music, 2012: CECD001[69] Reissued with additional tracks by Ripple Music (2013)[70]
An EnglishFancy by Trio Settecento, with David Schrader (harpsichord and positiv organ) and John Mark Rozendaal (viola da gamba) – Cedille Records, 2012: CDR 90000 135[71][72]
Violin Lullabies with Matthew Hagle (piano) – Cedille Records, 2013: CDR 90000 139[73][74][75]
Grand Tour by Trio Settecento, with David Schrader (harpsichord and organ) and John Mark Rozendaal (viola da gamba and baroque cello) – Cedille Records, 2013: CDR Box 1002[78]
Veracini: Complete Sonate Accademiche by Trio Settecento, with David Schrader (harpsichord) and John Mark Rozendaal (cello) – Cedille Records, 2015: CDR 90000 155[25][81]
Vivaldi: The Complete Viola d'Amore Concertos with Ars Antigua and Hopkinson Smith (lute) – Cedille Records, 2015: CDR 90000 159[82]
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.
The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77, was composed by Johannes Brahms in 1878 and dedicated to his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim. It is Brahms's only violin concerto, and, according to Joachim, one of the four great German violin concerti:
The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven's. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart's jewel, is Mendelssohn's.
Anne-Sophie Mutter is a German violinist. Born and raised in Rheinfelden, Baden-Württemberg, Mutter started playing the violin at age five and continued studies in Germany and Switzerland. She was supported early in her career by Herbert von Karajan and made her orchestral debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1977. Since Mutter gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, she has recorded over 50 albums, mostly with the Deutsche Grammophon label, and performed as a soloist with leading orchestras worldwide and as a recitalist. Her primary instrument is the Lord Dunn–Raven Stradivarius violin.
The Scottish Fantasy in E-flat major, Op. 46, is a composition for violin and orchestra by Max Bruch. Completed in 1880, it was dedicated to the virtuoso violinist Pablo de Sarasate.
Roque Cordero was a Panamanian composer.
Easley Rutland Blackwood Jr. was an American professor of music, concert pianist, composer, and the author of books on music theory, including his research into the properties of microtonal tunings and traditional harmony.
David Schrader is an American harpsichordist, organist, and fortepianist. He is a professor at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where he teaches music history and conducts chamber music ensembles. Schrader was the organist at Church of the Ascension, Chicago for 35 years.
Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Minor "in the Hungarian Manner", Op.11 is a Romantic violin concerto written by violinist Joseph Joachim (1831–1907). Rarely performed, it has been described as "the Holy Grail of Romantic violin concertos." by music critic David Hurwitz.
Cedille Records is the independent record label of the Chicago Classical Recording Foundation.
Minnie "Maud" Powell was an American violinist who gained international acclaim for her skill and virtuosity.
Richard Barth was a left-handed German violin virtuoso, conductor, music teacher and composer in the circle of Johannes Brahms. His Ciacona in B minor, Op. 21, composed in 1908, is a finely crafted tribute to J.S. Bach's Chaconne in post-Paganini technical and tonal terms.
Franz Joseph Clement, was an Austrian violinist, pianist, composer, conductor of Vienna's Theater an der Wien, and a friend of Ludwig van Beethoven.
Anne Akiko Meyers is an American violinist. She has been called “the Wonder Woman of commissioning” by The Strad.
David C. Sampson is an American contemporary classical composer.
Jennifer Koh is an American violinist, born to Korean parents in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 44 was composed during 1877, following a failed attempt in 1874, and dedicated to the great Spanish violinist, Pablo de Sarasate. It was premiered in London by Sarasate, conducted by Bruch, on 4 November 1877.
Wendy Warner is a cellist from Chicago, Illinois. She performs both as a soloist with major orchestras and as a chamber musician around the world.
Earthen Grave was an American thrash/doom metal band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 2008, featuring violinist Rachel Barton Pine.
Rachel Kolly, born 21 May 1981 in Lausanne, Switzerland, is a Swiss violinist. Considered a child prodigy at the violin, she started playing at the age of five.
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