American violin virtuoso captivates Polish convicts

photo - wikicommons

She performed arrangements of hits by Metallica, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin before a mixed audience of about one hundred male and female prisoners.

The event marked the annual Day of Prison Officers in Poland.

A spokesman for the regional prison services in Kraków told the Polish Press Agency that for many prisoners the concert was the first ever contact with 'culture'.

The concert in prison preceded Rachel Barton Pine’s three appearances, in a classical repertoire, with the Orchestra of the Kraków-based Beethoven Academy, in Kraków, Wrocław and Warsaw.

Born in 1974, Rachel Barton Pine started to play the violin at the age of three. A child prodigy, she made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of ten. Seven years later she won the Bach Competition in Leipzig.

In 1995, she was injured in a train accident, severing one leg and mangling the other. She resumed her career after a two-year treatment and therapy.

In 2009 she joined the heavy metal band Earthen Grave, with which she performs on a 6-string Viper electronic violin.

Rachel Barton Pine has some Polish blood in her veins. Her great-grandparents on her father’s side had emigrated to America from Poland in their teens.

“As most people of that generation, they wanted their children to become true Americans and so they did not pass on any Polish traditions to them. I’d like to learn as much as possible about Polish culture during my first visit to Poland”, she told the Polish Press Agency. (mk/pg)