When musicians and old friends Hilary Hahn and Josh Ritter went out to lunch one day three years ago, neither realized the musical endeavor on which they were about to embark ' an effort that culminates tonight when the two perform together in Athens.
Hahn casually offered up her violin skills to folk-rocker Ritter. Much to Hahn's surprise, Ritter jumped at the chance to work with the Grammy Award-winning instrumentalist.
I totally didn't expect him to take me up on it
Hahn remembers, but he said 'Do you want to play tomorrow?' It was a thrill for me.
Once the pair began playing together, the energy between them was of epic proportions.
I had never experienced playing with someone who's a force of nature said Ritter, adding that playing with a powerful violinist such as Hahn is like standing next to a tornado.
It was G? really
really fun to see somebody actually making that music
Ritter said. I had heard her recordings and they are beautiful
but then when you're actually there
it's dumbfounding.
A self-proclaimed persuasive child
Hahn convinced her dad to take her to violin lessons when she was about 4 years old.
It was just kind of something that I did
Hahn said. I did gymnastics
ballet G? but they never clicked with me like violin.
Hahn was certainly not the only one to notice her connection with the instrument. A record deal with Sony Classical in 1996 propelled Hahn to a career of albums, DVDs and overseas tours playing with some of the best-known orchestras in the world.
Despite her obvious success on the violin -
Ritter said. I was more interested in the story of the need more than the science itself.
Ritter's latest record, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, is his most detailed attempt yet, stretching across generations as he refreshes his usual Dylan-esque compositions with a tender-voiced Springsteen flair and horn sections seemingly picked off Sufjan Stevens's drawing board.
Tonight at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, Hahn and Ritter will each be playing their own solo repertoire, but also guest-starring in each other's sets.
We definitely didn't want to do a fusion (of our musical styles)
