Performances start
at 7:30 p.m.

Redding Convention Center

Pianafiddle

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Piano and Fiddle Duo

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Is it bluegrass? Is it jazz? Is it classical, old time, ragtime, blues, Celtic or klezmer? If Pianafiddle is performing, the answer is YES! “If we like it, we play it,” and since they have a healthy appreciation for good music, no matter the style, their programs transcend musical genre. Beginning only with a familiar tune, pianist Lynn Wright and violinist/fiddler Adam DeGraff improvise as they go, blending the traditional, the unwritten, and the spontaneous in compelling performances that get toes tapping and hands clapping!

Lynn Wright began his classical piano study at the age of four under the tutelage of his mother, a Peabody graduate and concert pianist. He continued his formal studies for the next nine years, at which point his calling to express what he heard in his head and felt in his heart finally became too compelling to ignore. At age thirteen, Lynn began his true education as an improvisatory pianist in the dark halls of nightclub bands, where written music was not needed and could not be seen even if it was. He learned the age-old art of improvisation from other great performers, “old dudes like I am now,” regardless of their instrument (horn, bass, guitar, and other piano players -- Ray Charles to name one), the genre (‘50s, pop, jazz, country), or the occasion (Greek weddings, Jewish bar-mitzvahs, Italian wakes). For fifteen years, Lynn was also a member of the four-man band, The Gigolos, comprised of piano, sax/button accordion, bass, and drums. They all performed solo and backup vocals as well.

During college, Lynn paid his way by performing live country music on television and working as a recording and dance studio pianist, where he was called upon to write and perform jingles, accompany ballet, tap, jazz, modern, vaudeville and singing. He was known for his stylistic versatility and fluency, as well as his ability to transpose, modulate, and work from both chord charts and lead sheets; however, his improvisational prowess is what kept him booked solid.

In 1975, Lynn wrote and published Elements of Informal Music, at the behest of the Baldwin Piano and Organ Company Music Education Division, Cincinnati. The book eventually became a part of the curriculum at eight different university music schools, including the Cincinnati Conservatory and the University of Southern California.

Lynn spent most of the seventies, eighties, and nineties in the Rocky Mountain West, where he taught at the University of Denver, at Western State College in Gunnison, CO, and performed, primarily as a solo musician. During this time, he recorded seven albums, four of which are still available on CD. From 1993 to 2003, Lynn played solo ragtime piano six nights a week at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

In 2003, Lynn retired to West Virginia, and “I met this fiddle player…there's an old German word, funktionslust. When you have a strong, passionate desire (lust) to do what, at your core, you were made to do (function), and you're blessed enough to be able to ‘follow your bliss,’ as Joseph Campbell says, every day is a funktionslust day! Or, as I see it, if you don't DO your funktionslust, then you're definitely in a FUNK!”

Adam DeGraff is a native of Chicago, Illinois, where he began playing the violin at age four. He is a beneficiary of that city’s rich musical life, having had the opportunity to work and study with many of the principal violinists of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and members of the Vermeer Quartet. As a high school student, he was one of the youngest members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the same group he went on to lead as co-concertmaster, while a student at Northwestern University. As a member of the Civic Orchestra, Adam performed with many of the world’s great conductors including Sir George Solti, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, and Daniel Barenboim.

After his graduation from Northwestern, where he was a student of Gerardo Ribeiro, Adam and his wife, flutist Lisa Spector DeGraff, played for a season with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Spoleto, Italy. Upon his return to the United States, Adam commenced graduate study at Rice University, where he was mentored by the late Raphael Fliegel.

In 1997, although only 23 at the time, Adam won the position of principal second violin with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. During his five years in Richmond, he performed works such as John Williams’ Schindler’s List, Mozart’s Symphonia Concertante, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, as a favored soloist with the orchestra. He performed seminal chamber music works, including Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat, and Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (with Joseph Silverstein). Adam frequently served as concertmaster during his tenure. Demonstrating his commitment to nurturing younger violinists, Adam was also a member of the faculty at St. Catherine’s School, and performed with the Oberon Quartet (the school’s quartet-in-residence).

In 2002, Adam moved to West Virginia and lives with his family in arts-friendly Lewisburg, where, in addition to performing, he maintains a large studio of violin and fiddle students. As a member of Pianafiddle, he has recorded three CDs and a full-length concert DVD with pianist, Lynn Wright. Adam has many non-musical interests as well; however, all but two are currently on hold, while he and his wife enjoy spending every last minute with their two young children.

Adam DeGraff performs on a rare violin made by Bernardus Calcanius (Genoa, ca. 1750) and a bow by Victor Fetique.

With countless performances, three CDs, and a full-length concert DVD to their credit, Pianafiddle continues to engross its fans with traditionally grounded yet spontaneous musical creations that unfold onstage…different every time. Adam and Lynn love performing, improvising and playing off one another, and ultimately agree that musical boundaries are meant to be crossed!