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Portrait of Hilary Hahn

Hilary Hahn

(1979) Violinist

110 quotes in 369 categories

Hilary Hahn stresses that improvement leaves no spare days for rest. She talks about following curiosity, trying many interests, and never stopping learning, even when she works with composers. She also enjoys traveling to places she has never been before, like the Arctic Circle.

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Hilary Hahn is a violinist, best known for Suzuki Violin School , Vol 2.

Quick Facts About Hilary Hahn

Born: November 27, 1979
Profession: Violinist
Notable works: Suzuki Violin School , Vol 2

About Hilary Hahn

Hilary Hahn is an American violinist. A three-time Grammy Award winner, she has performed throughout the world as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors, and as a recitalist. She is an avid supporter of contemporary classical music, and several composers have written works for her, including concerti by Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon, partitas by Antón García Abril, two serenades for violin and orchestra by Einojuhani Rautavaara, and a violin and piano sonata by Lera Auerbach.

Quotes by Hilary Hahn

Always ask questions.

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I've been to New Zealand several times.

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I like to record. It's very intense.

Intense

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I grew up in Baltimore.

Baltimore

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I go a lot to Korea and Japan.

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I try to prioritize a certain amount of quiet work every day.

Day

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I don't really compare myself to anybody. That would be very unhealthy.

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I always feel I have a long way to go in my playing and my music.

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By the time I was 12, I was starting my high school stuff in home schooling.

Education

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I've never loved composing, because I feel like other people do it better.

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There's so many different ways to play Mozart.

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I grew up without TV, I grew up listening to radio, I grew up reading.

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I wound up sticking with violin because it was the strongest current in my life.

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For vacation, I like going to places I've never been before. I've gone to some remote places, like the Arctic Circle.

Arctic

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If you start censoring what you're interested in for the audience, you don't give the audience enough credit.

Audience

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When you have live music in the background, people are usually talking over it. You don't actually get to listen to live…

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I don't think there's such a difference between older and newer music as there is between one composer and another.

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My teacher was still practicing Bach until his death at 89. I have no doubt that if I live that long, I'll…

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I'm more creative the more rules I have - note values, tempos, dynamic markings. Somehow, I find that really inspiring.

Creative

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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.

Career

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When I started my recording career, I hoped that someday the Grammy committee would notice something.

Career

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It's no good to do a piece once and then move on because it doesn't have time to develop. I try to…

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It's really been enlightening for me to work with composers because I used to think that everything in the music was exactly…

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One challenge, if you do a website, a Youtube channel, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Ping, other things like that, is you don't have…

Art

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When we talk about music, we tend to place our experiences into one of two categories: making the music and listening to…

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Composers don't just sit in a room and write things that are in their heads, they actually listen to a lot of…

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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…

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I remember when I gave my first recital. I thought, 'Oh, my goodness, people are coming to hear me.' I didn't expect…

Family

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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…

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I've had it for about 13 years, and I don't see any reason to change, I find that the violin just keeps…

Age

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I don't want people to feel like they have to state something in a certain way because so-and-so might be around on…

Blogs

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Bach in general was so good with the violin. He just finds the genius way around his music on the instrument. When…

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I enjoy reading and thinking, and it's hard to make that space as an artist.

Art

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Touring is a more varied and interesting existence than I would have imagined.

Existence

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There's this feeling of creativity in Iceland.

Creativity

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Sometimes, I'm not sure why I wind up doing some of the things I do.

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Writing is a good creative outlet... it's a supplement to my music.

Creative

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I am not trying to be cooler or change my image or get into pop music.

Change

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Everyone is always making transitions in life.

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The encore should wrap up the audience's experience of the piece you just played.

Audience

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Hilary Hahn by topic

Music (33) Song (21) People (17) Time (14)