Tracy Silverman (born April 7, 1960) is an American

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist, composer, and producer.

Biography

Born in

Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from ...

and raised in Beloit, Wisconsin, he attended Beloit Memorial High School but left after two years when he was sixteen to enter the Chicago Musical College. He graduated from the

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most e ...

School and performs

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Orig ...

, and rock, mainly on the six-string electric violin as well as other fretted and fretless acoustic and electric instruments. He recorded his debut solo album for Windham Hill and appeared on many of the label's compilations. He was a violinist with the Turtle Island String Quartet and has performed with pianist

Jim Brickman James Merrill Brickman (born November 20, 1961) is an American pop songwriter, pianist and radio host. Brickman has earned two Grammy nominations for his albums ''Peace'' (2003) for Best Instrumental, and ''Faith'' (2009) for Best New Age Album. ...

and composer

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

. He performed at the gala opening of

Walt Disney Concert Hall The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand A ...

in Los Angeles where he was the featured soloist in the premiere of

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

's composition ''

The Dharma at Big Sur ''The Dharma at Big Sur'' is a composition for solo electric violin and orchestra by the American composer John Adams. The piece calls for some instruments (harps, piano, samplers) to use just intonation, a tuning system in which intervals sound pu ...

'', written specifically for Silverman and his 6-string electric violin. Silverman is the author of "The Strum Bowing Method: How to Groove on Strings" and has taught at

Belmont University Belmont University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporated in 1951 as Belmont College. It b ...

in Nashville, Tennessee. He has also been an instructor at

Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American fiddle player and composer whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year award ...

's String Camps as well as The Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp.

Discography

As leader or co-leader

* ''Trip to the Sun'' (Windham Hill, 1999) * ''Yangin' with the Yin Crowd'' (Gutbucket, 2001) * ''Superstring'' (with Ferdinand Forsch) (Atelier, 2002 ) * ''North Meets South'' (with Caito Marcondes) (Nucleo Contemporaneo, 2002) * ''I'd Rather Be Dreaming'' (2004) * ''Streaming Video Soul'' (2008) * ''Three Part Invention'' (with Philip Aaberg, Eugene Friesen) (Sweetgrass, 2009) * ''May All Good Things'' (2010) * ''Between the Kiss and the Chaos'' (Delos, 2014) * ''Resonance 2.3'' (2015) * ''Live from Matthew's Opera House (with Roy ("Futureman") Wooten (2018)

With the Turtle Island String Quartet

* ''Who Do We Think We Are?'' ( Windham Hill, 1994) * ''A Night in Tunisia, A Week in Detroit'' (Chandos, 1994) * ''By the Fireside'' (1995)

As guest

* ''On A Starry Night'' ( Windham Hill, 1997) * ''John Adams: The Dharma at Big Sur'' ( Nonesuch, 2006) * ''Palmian Chord Ryddle'' (2017) * ''The Three Generations Trio'' (2017)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silverman, Tracy Living people American jazz violinists American male violinists Juilliard School alumni People from Beloit, Wisconsin Musicians from New York (state) Windham Hill Records artists Belmont University faculty Musicians from Wisconsin Macalester College faculty Nonesuch Records artists Chicago Musical College alumni 21st-century American violinists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Turtle Island Quartet members 1960 births