When David Garrett was four years old, his father bought a violin for his older brother but the younger Garrett took an interest and soon learnt to play. By the age of seven, he was playing once a week in public. He studied violin at the Lübeck Conservatoire and at the age of 12, Garrett began working with the distinguished Polish violinist Ida Haendel, often traveling to London and other European cities to meet her.
At the age of 13, Garrett recorded two CDs, appeared on German and Dutch television, and gave a concert in the residence of the Federal Republic of Germany President, the Villa Hammerschmidt, at Dr. von Weizsäcker’s personal invitation.
He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in London and in 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School in New York City. He was one of the first students to study there with Itzhak Perlman. As the years went by, David grew to become an international superstar best known for merging the elements of Rock with traditional violin symphonies.
Style Council member Elliott Danker was invited to David Garrett’s Rock Symphonies Private showcase at AVALON, Marina Bay Sands. Together with his guitarist Marcus Wolf, David showed his classical side with beautiful renditions of Air (Johann Sebastian Bach, Suite No. 3) and Summer (Vivaldi, The Four Seasons).
We have come to know, David is not only well known for his renditions of classical songs but also, for his own style of using the violin to play modern songs, which has captured the hearts of fans around the world.
From Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” to Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” and not forgetting “Live and Let Die” by Guns N’ Roses to even Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”, the world of Rock, Pop and Classical music collided in a rather spectacular fashion as David thrilled everyone present at the AVALON.
There was also room for the iconic tune, which every “Pirates of the Caribbean” fan can identify, and associate, “He’s a Pirate” originally done by Klaus Badelt was every bit as exciting as hearing it play during a screening of the movie.
From where I was sitting at the VIP area, I could see the fans of David Garrett enjoying themselves and pouring loud cheers and applause for David after each song.
With this being an exclusive invite-only event which I did not want to forget, I called upon the zoom range of the IXUS 300 HS to aid me in getting good shots of David & Marcus as the stage was not as near as I would have liked it to be.
With AVALON being a club you can expect that photo-friendly lighting would be a challenge. So the trick was to make sure the spotlight was on the performers in order to get quality shots. It did take some practice to time my shots but the IXUS 300 HS was ever dependable.
After all, it was a stage performance so using flash is usually not advisable. In order to ensure that the photos would come out the way I wanted it to, all I had to do was to push the ISO to the max.
As a newly converted fan, I had the chance to interview David Garrett the following day and one of the things he spoke of was about how he thought of quitting the violin everyday.
He said he loves the instrument very much but "Just because you love something, doesn’t mean it’s easy, in fact the more you love something, the harder it will be to succeed in it"
Very true words indeed because success never comes easily and with what David has done not just in the entertainment industry but also as a musician breaking barriers, he can certainly serve as an example to us all. Not to mention, he did it all in his own style.
Another IXUS Experience brought to you by the Canon IXUS Style Council