Saturday Morning News

Hilary Hahn Talks About Her Career and Her Age

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: During the spring, it's easy to imagine the sweet sounds of a violin sonata. Well, Hilary Hahn is only 21 years old, but already has been nominated for a Grammy. You'll meet her in just a moment, but first, sit back, relax and let Hilary's magical fingers serenade you with "Presto," by Bach.

("PRESTO," BACH, PERFORMED BY HILARY HAHN)

PHILLIPS: Wow. You started playing at age four. Who influenced you?

HILARY HAHN, VIOLINIST: Well, I had really good teacher throughout all the time I started studying violin and continued studying violin, and I come from Baltimore. So, Baltimore has a very large musical community and I felt like I was a part of it.

PHILLIPS: Did someone ever say to you, Hillary -- like mom or dad or a friend, you have a musical gift, let's try the violin?

HAHN: Actually, the way it started was my dad and I were taking a walk through our neighborhood, and we saw a sign up that music lessons for four-year-olds. So, I went in and watched a little boy play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" on a violin that was probably about this long.

PHILLIPS: I love it.

HAHN: And I really liked it, so I started the next week.

PHILLIPS: Wow, and then, in Baltimore, you had your first major appearance with the orchestra at age 11.

HAHN: Right.

PHILLIPS: Were you nervous?

HAHN: Well, actually not. It was really nice to be on that stage performing with that orchestra instead of just sitting in the hall as I'd done since I was about five years old. So, it was great to be on the other side of things and looking out toward the audience.

PHILLIPS: How did everybody respond to you, the older musicians?

HAHN: Well, I guess -- it felt really good because they were very supportive. I'd grown up seeing them play, and I knew several of them because my teacher's son was a member of the orchestra. So, I got to know them and when I was on stage with them, it was really nice to look around and see all these faces that I knew.

PHILLIPS: Wow. So, what's next for you? What's your goal? You're 21 years old, my goodness.

HAHN: Yes, well, what I do now is I basically travel and play different kinds of performances. I play chamber music with small groups of other musicians. This week I'm in Atlanta to play with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. I'm on the road about two weeks out of four, and I like the variety of things I get to and places I see and people I meet. So, it's really nice to keep -- it'd be nice to keep on doing this for as long as I can.

PHILLIPS: Well, what would your advice be to say a young person, a 10-year-old, who is interested in playing the violin? What would your advice be?

HAHN: I guess I'd say that the most important thing is to follow the advice of my first teacher, who said that you only have to practice on the days that you eat. So, practice is as important for a musician as eating is for any human being and I think a little bit every day is important and just to have fun with it.

PHILLIPS: Well, you're quite an inspiration, and you have a new CD, we want to mention this, "Hilary Hahn and Barber & Meyer: The Violin Concertos" with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. All right, the CD is on sale now and you also have a Web site, and you have a journal on here. Tell us about this.

HAHN: Well, I've been keeping the journal since January of '99, so it's been going for about two years now, and I send in an entry every week with digital pictures, like 20 to 25 digital pictures of what I've seen and I write about things that I've done and my impressions of the city. So, if you want to see what I've been up to, you can click on HilaryHahn.com.

PHILLIPS: Outstanding, and you'll play us to break. What will you play for us?

HAHN: OK, I'll play the beginning of the Fugue from Sonata No. 1 by Bach.

PHILLIPS: So graceful. Hilary Hahn, thanks so much.

HAHN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

("SONATA NO. 1," BACH, PERFORMED BY HILARY HAHN)

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