Welcome to the captivating world of Hilary Hahn, where music transcends boundaries and emotions resonate through every note. As one of the most celebrated violinists of our time, Hilary Hahn has graced the stages of prestigious concert halls worldwide, enchanting audiences with her unparalleled talent and profound interpretations. With her virtuosity and innate musicality, she has carved a niche for herself in the realm of classical music, inspiring countless aspiring musicians and captivating the hearts of music lovers everywhere.
Within the eloquent phrasing of her performances lies a depth of expression that speaks volumes, eliciting a myriad of emotions from joy to melancholy. Hilary Hahn’s dedication to her craft shines through in every piece she performs, as she effortlessly navigates the complexities of the musical landscape with grace and finesse. Whether interpreting beloved classical compositions or exploring contemporary works, her artistry knows no bounds, captivating listeners and leaving a lasting impression.
Below, you’ll find a collection of insightful and inspiring Hilary Hahn quotes that offer a glimpse into her passion for music, her artistic philosophy, and the wisdom she imparts through her remarkable journey. Feel free to immerse yourself in her words, whether to find motivation, gain perspective, or simply revel in the beauty of her thoughts. Let these quotes serve as a source of inspiration as you embark on your own musical odyssey.
I’m more creative the more rules I have – note values, tempos, dynamic markings. Somehow, I find that really inspiring. Hilary Hahn
Phrasing is the idea of finding sentences and using punctuation in speech. I often look at the score to see what’s written in by the composer to see if I can find clues to those directions, like what direction did the composer have in mind, and I try to incorporate those things as much as possible. Hilary Hahn
In the performance sense, I find that interpretation is improvisatory in nature. You can go anywhere with an interpretation on any given day. Hilary Hahn
With a Grammy, if you’re releasing your record with a major label, you have a chance with any record. You also have a very long shot with every record. Hilary Hahn
By the time I was 12, I was starting my high school stuff in home schooling. Hilary Hahn
There’s nothing I really wanted to record more than Bach. It’s wonderful music. It’s – on a grand scale, there’s a lot to it. There are – I can work on it for a long time and keep discovering more things, you know, that surprise me every time. Hilary Hahn
I like when things happen very quickly, just flash in and flash out. It keeps things interesting. Hilary Hahn
I try to prioritize a certain amount of quiet work every day. Hilary Hahn
My career direction has probably been guided as much by curiosity and my personality as by my early influences. Hilary Hahn
Touring is a more varied and interesting existence than I would have imagined. Hilary Hahn
I’ve always heard the same doomsday concerns and yet, every day, there are people going to a classical concert for the first time – whether it’s on a date or being dragged there by their grandmother. Hilary Hahn
I love performing. The sounds coming at me are dynamic, colorful and multi-layered. The energy from the musicians around me and from the audience is a swirl of excitement. Sometimes, I can feel the stage vibrating under my feet. Hilary Hahn
It’s no good to do a piece once and then move on because it doesn’t have time to develop. I try to play seven or eight concerti in a season, and generally one or two of those are new for me. Hilary Hahn
It’s fine with me if people want to applaud between movements of a concerto. It doesn’t bother me – it’s part of performance experience. Hilary Hahn
It’s really been enlightening for me to work with composers because I used to think that everything in the music was exactly what the composer meant. Well, it’s what the composer meant in that moment when they wrote it. Hilary Hahn
I am not trying to be cooler or change my image or get into pop music. Hilary Hahn
I never felt like a prodigy. For one thing, the root of the word is rather monstrous, literally. I never really felt like a monster or anything abnormal, because I always had a lot of different interests. But kids tend to focus on one thing, and for me it was violin. Hilary Hahn
I feel like I had as normal a childhood as anyone, but it had a certain focus. Maybe other kids focused on sports. Hilary Hahn
Sometimes I like practicing, sometimes I don’t. But I like the result… I hardly ever get discouraged. Maybe right when it’s very hard to get something done correctly, but then the idea flashes through of how to fix it. And I get encouraged. And other ideas flow. Hilary Hahn
I don’t think there’s such a difference between older and newer music as there is between one composer and another. Hilary Hahn
When you have a teacher who is part of a tradition, the other people in that tradition are such stars. You just look at them like pop stars. Hilary Hahn
You don’t need to be a performer in order to dive into the sensory experience of music. Simply get as close as you can to the source of the music. Hilary Hahn
I get to work with a lot of great musicians – many I wouldn’t have expected to work with – and see how they form their lives around their music and how they approach it. Hilary Hahn
There’s so many different ways to play Mozart. Hilary Hahn
What I do is creative. It doesn’t seem like that when I’m playing a piece that was written in the past, but the score is just the outline and everything in it is relative. The key is to make this piece written by someone else belong to you and then connect to the audience. Hilary Hahn
When I was younger, I felt more like a student working with a mentor when I worked with the conductor, but now it feels more like equals. Hilary Hahn
It’s easy to be a prodigy. It’s really hard to keep pushing in new directions. Hilary Hahn
Edgar Meyer’s violin concerto was the first piece of contemporary music I worked on in any depth. I was 18 or 19. Hilary Hahn
Music can inspire immediate emotional reactions, even if the only person who hears it is the person creating it. Hilary Hahn
The violin didn’t keep me from doing things I wanted to do. Hilary Hahn
As more people get into indie bands and alternative music, they’re also getting more into other genres that fit those categories, like jazz and classical. It’s becoming more rebellious to go to a classical concert. You’re getting the younger art house crowd and regular students as well as those who are just curious. Hilary Hahn
I try to do a lot of direct contact with the audience, because the audience is part of the concert, too, as much as anyone on stage, and it’s a shame not to get to meet them if you get the chance. Hilary Hahn
It struck me that it would be fun to just play stuff with Hauschka. Not even have a project in mind, but just get together and make up some music and see what came out. Hilary Hahn
I grew up without TV, I grew up listening to radio, I grew up reading. Hilary Hahn
You couldn’t be performing if it weren’t for the audience. I appreciate them being there. So why not applaud them? They took time out of their schedule to show up and sit in the concert hall and be part of the experience. Hilary Hahn
Is there such a thing as a normal childhood? Hilary Hahn
Whenever I work with people who are nonclassical artists, I kind of get a kick in the pants. I think, ‘How can I apply what I do to their music?’ Hilary Hahn
You never know what you’re going to learn from which pieces and which composers and colleagues are going to influence that thing you think you know. Hilary Hahn
If you think about it – if you watch a gymnast compete, you don’t see their training behind the scenes. You just see the competition. You see the final result when it’s polished. And that is very much what people experience with concerts. They go to the concert. And they see the final version. Hilary Hahn
Obviously, something like ballet, you have music, you dance with the music and it’s a very direct connection. With visual art, when there’s no music that accompanies the art, such as great masterworks in a museum, you wind up interpreting what the artist is doing, how the artist made that work and what they’re conveying. Hilary Hahn
If you start censoring what you’re interested in for the audience, you don’t give the audience enough credit. Hilary Hahn
Kids would come up to me after concerts and give me drawings they’ve made of violins or, you know, landscapes with a violin floating in it or some sketch of a concert or a portrait of me. Hilary Hahn
One of the most rewarding things is meeting someone after a concert who has never been to a concert before. It is incredibly rewarding when they say, ‘This is my first classical concert.’ It is really exciting for everyone. Hilary Hahn
I like to record. It’s very intense. Hilary Hahn
As a young performer, what you need to be doing is building your technique and musicality, not promoting your abilities – unless you’re ready to take on all that will result from such an approach. Hilary Hahn
Everyone is always making transitions in life. Hilary Hahn
I think the things that I learned that stick with me are things you often repeat, even today, which is never stop learning. Hilary Hahn
I like to take walks and getting out and seeing things. These experiences are so irreplaceable and give you a whole different perspective on the greater context that you’re in. If I didn’t try to take advantage of that, I’d be missing out on a lot of really interesting things. Hilary Hahn
I learn a lot in interviews, I learn about how careers differ. Hilary Hahn
I always feel I have a long way to go in my playing and my music. Hilary Hahn
I’ve continued to pursue other interests in my downtime, but I’m glad I’m a musician. It’s the perfect career for me. Hilary Hahn
I enjoy reading and thinking, and it’s hard to make that space as an artist. Hilary Hahn
The audience will find the artist who matches their interests. If you’re not being true to yourself, your audience can’t find you, because there’s a wall up between who you are and who they’re seeing. Hilary Hahn
My teacher was still practicing Bach until his death at 89. I have no doubt that if I live that long, I’ll be doing the same thing. Hilary Hahn
I grew up in Baltimore. Hilary Hahn
I go a lot to Korea and Japan. Hilary Hahn
Something new has the chance to speak to someone immediately. There isn’t this expectation of what they’re about to hear, so people can be really captivated, really quickly. Hilary Hahn
Musicians are also interpretive artists and we are just as creative as painters and writers. We interpret in a way that expresses ourselves. Hilary Hahn
I remember when I gave my first recital. I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, people are coming to hear me.’ I didn’t expect anyone to come, and then the whole hall filled up. Of course, it wasn’t a big hall, and some of the people were my friends and family. Hilary Hahn
The nice thing about the violin repertoire is that it’s small enough that you can plan on learning everything at some point – whereas the piano repertoire is so enormous it wouldn’t be possible unless you’re a learning machine. Hilary Hahn
I was a student that responded well to knowing what to work on. Hilary Hahn
I grew up not watching TV and I enjoy TV but it kind of takes my brain away from me. Hilary Hahn
In music you can find your own niche. You can do what you want to do. There is really no job description. You have to find your own way, and that’s fun. Hilary Hahn
I guess I just like the idea of digging things up. Although I used to be scared of human skeletons. Hilary Hahn
Writing is a good creative outlet… it’s a supplement to my music. Hilary Hahn
I find that Bach is appealing to a lot of different audiences. It really hits people at their core in different ways, but it also creates a meditative space. I just feel like I can play it, and it reaches people. Hilary Hahn
Bach in general was so good with the violin. He just finds the genius way around his music on the instrument. Hilary Hahn
For me, the conductor is a person who interprets along with me, and we interpret things together. Hilary Hahn
There’s this feeling of creativity in Iceland. Hilary Hahn
When I was starting out with record companies, there was a tendency to simplify the image as a prodigy. I have more than one adjective, and I’ve always tried to be myself and listen to my instincts. Hilary Hahn
A concert is my experimentation time. I practice playing something several different ways, but in a concert, inevitably I get more ideas onstage, in that combination of focus and adrenaline, than I could ever get in the practice room. Hilary Hahn
I think when a teacher says that you’re ready for something, it means you’re ready to learn it. It doesn’t always mean that you are completely capable of doing everything that’s inside the piece. Hilary Hahn
The encore should wrap up the audience’s experience of the piece you just played. Hilary Hahn
I’ve been to New Zealand several times. Hilary Hahn
When you have live music in the background, people are usually talking over it. You don’t actually get to listen to live music in your space all the time. Hilary Hahn
I wound up sticking with violin because it was the strongest current in my life. Hilary Hahn
Growing up as a classical musician, you’re taught a lot about outreach and about how people aren’t being taught music in school. But you don’t have to study music to like it. And a lot of the music that people like – be it jazz or rock or opera – is stuff they haven’t studied. Hilary Hahn
I have a lot of interests. I daydreamed about various career options growing up; the one I’m in is the first one that worked out, and I love it, so I feel very lucky. Hilary Hahn
You don’t have any days to spare if you want to improve! Hilary Hahn
As a professional, you pick up ideas from your colleagues and the orchestras you work with, while coming up with mutual interpretations in very short periods of time. Hilary Hahn
If my career doesn’t work out as a violinist, I want to become an archaeologist. I’ve read about paleontology, too – that’s dinosaur bones – but I thought it would be more interesting to do archaeology. Hilary Hahn
When we talk about music, we tend to place our experiences into one of two categories: making the music and listening to it. Delineating the two seems practical and obvious. In reality, though, there are a lot of opportunities for overlap, and it doesn’t matter how you get into the music as long as you connect with it. Hilary Hahn
Of course everyone has those moments of frustration now and then, when you say, ‘I wish I could play well already – or just stop.’ But it’s too much trouble to stop just for a moment of frustration. It is when you keep going that you make the most progress. Hilary Hahn
Sometimes if the point of a piece of music is to open a conversation with other people, it’s really hard to open that conversation if you’re telling people exactly what to do or feel or think. Hilary Hahn
When I started my recording career, I hoped that someday the Grammy committee would notice something. Hilary Hahn
I have always enjoyed literature classes, and I took a fiction workshop for writing and analyzing at Curtis… I don’t know if would do it professionally, but it’s nice to have the balance with the music. Hilary Hahn
Most kids are very seriously interested in something – friends, math, shopping, sports. For me it happened to be music and the violin. I had the chance to pursue it without having it get in the way of my life. Hilary Hahn
For vacation, I like going to places I’ve never been before. I’ve gone to some remote places, like the Arctic Circle. Hilary Hahn
Through the Internet and technology, anyone can now seek out any artist, composer or undefined niche of music they find interesting. All on their own, without even having to stand up or go anywhere. Hilary Hahn
Sometimes a person comes into an audience after a rough day, and they want to hear something they know. Hilary Hahn
What I find really interesting is, whenever you see the person who gives you the portrait of yourself, the portrait seems to be a combination of their face and your face. Hilary Hahn
You’re not supposed to stop and listen and spy on people practicing. It’s supposed to be a private thing. But it’s when you come face-to-face with yourself and you look for your flaws and you try to fix them yourself, it’s a really intimidating process. It can be very discouraging. Hilary Hahn
That word ‘prodigy’ has such a derogatory implication. It is used to describe people who are forced to play a lot of concerts very early, people whose audience comes because of their youth, people who are exploited. None of the above really applied to me. Hilary Hahn
Always ask questions. Hilary Hahn
Sometimes, I’m not sure why I wind up doing some of the things I do. Hilary Hahn
I don’t really compare myself to anybody. That would be very unhealthy. Hilary Hahn
Deutsche Grammophon really has a grasp of the classical repertoire. Hilary Hahn
One challenge, if you do a website, a Youtube channel, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Ping, other things like that, is you don’t have time to be an artist. As a performer, you need to practice. Hilary Hahn
Taking on music that’s not played very much is a contribution I can give. There’s so much I feel that needs more attention. Hilary Hahn
I’ve never loved composing, because I feel like other people do it better. Hilary Hahn
