Rachel Barton Pine

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Rachel Barton Pine

Background information
Birth name	Rachel Elizabeth Barton
Born	October 11, 1974 (1974-10-11) (age 33)
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, USA
Genre(s)	Classical
Occupation(s)	Violinist
Instrument(s)	Violin
Years active	1981-present
Label(s)	Cedille Records
Website	http://www.rachelbartonpine.com/

Rachel Barton Pine (born October 11, 1974) is a violinist from Chicago. Considered a child prodigy at the violin, she started playing at the age of 3 and a half. She played at many renowned venues through her child and teen years. She currently resides in Chicago with her husband Greg (a computer entrepreneur and former minor league baseball pitcher), plays regularly with the Chicago Symphony and on her own, tours worldwide, and has an active recording career.

1 Early life
2 Metra accident
3 Career
4 Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation
5 Discography
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early life

Barton Pine began playing the violin after being inspired by the example of older girls playing at her church. She debuted with the Chicago String Ensemble at age 7, and with the Chicago Symphony under the baton of Erich Leinsdorf at age 10. Her principal teachers were Roland and Almita Vamos. Home schooling allowed her to practice 8 hours a day. At age 14 she was forced by circumstances to become the family breadwinner, playing at weddings and in orchestras. Explaining how she managed, she says, "I put on a lot of makeup and pretended I was older than I was." She attained notable success in a number of violin competitions, for example in 1992 becoming the youngest (at age 17) and the first American contestant to win the J.S. Bach International Competition in Leipzig, Germany.^[1]

[edit] Metra accident

On January 16, 1995, Barton Pine was severely injured in a train accident in the suburb of Winnetka, where she taught violin lessons. As she was exiting a Metra commuter train with her violin over her shoulder, the doors closed on the strap to her case, pinning her left shoulder to the train. The doors, which were controlled remotely and had no safety sensors, failed to open, and she was dragged 366 feet by the train before being pulled underneath and run over, severing one leg and severely mangling the other.

She sued Metra and in 1999, the case went to court. Metra argued that she made the choice not to pull her arm out of the strap of the violin case due to the value of the instrument, a 400-year-old Amati valued at around $500,000, and thus she carried most of the blame for her injuries. The jury decided otherwise, however, and awarded her $29 million. Metra changed its conductor safety procedures following the accident and made other changes to the trains themselves.

[edit] Career

After a 2-year hiatus to allow for recovery from her injuries and therapy, Barton Pine resumed her career. She has appeared as a soloist with symphonies around the world under conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Neeme Järvi, Marin Alsop, Semyon Bychkov and Plácido Domingo, and her festival appearances include Marlboro, Ravinia, Montreal, Salzburg, and Salzburg’s Mozartwoche at the invitation of Franz Welser-Möst. Barton Pine performs chamber music as part of Trio Settecento with David Schrader and John Mark Rozendaal. She has often performed at schools and on rock music radio stations in an effort to interest younger audiences in classical music. Her current principal instrument is the 1742 “ex-Soldat” violin of Guarneri del Gesu. For 17th and 18th century pieces she prefers to use an unaltered 1770 instrument of Nicolò Gagliano I.

Her musical interests extend well beyond classical to Baroque, folk, Celtic, rock and jazz. She regularly instructs at Mark O'Connor's annual summer fiddle camp, and in 2004 released a CD in collaboration with Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. Her taste in rock runs to heavy metal, with Van Halen, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Metallica, Pantera, Slayer and Megadeth being among her favorites. She has met and jammed with a number of these, and in 1997 released a heavy-metal-inspired CD.

Bill McGlaughlin called her a "musical Pac-Man" for her ability to take in and perform so many different kinds of music.^[2]

[edit] Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation

Barton Pine started a foundation (rebf.org) bearing her maiden name in 2001 to promote the study and appreciation of classical music, including string music by black composers. It prepares music curricula (e.g. on black composers), loans high-quality instruments to deserving young musicians, and provides grants to cover incidental expenses (such as for supplemental lessons, accompanists, sheet music, travel, competition entrance fees, instrument repair, and audition recordings) of students and young professional musicians. Another program, Global HeartStrings, is dedicated to supporting aspiring classical musicians from developing countries.

In 2006, after being nominated by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Barton Pine received the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award for her work through the foundation.