(Photo | Courtesy of Sunriver Music Festival)
Concert rock violinist Aaron Meyer loves celebrating the holidays by performing at the Traditions Holiday Concert in Sunriver. It’s a wonderful time for him to share music with the Central Oregon community, his family and friends.
“It’s all about the people, and I’ve made a lot of valuable friends. It’s a long term partnership with Sunriver Music Festival and I couldn’t be more grateful,” Aaron said.
Aaron Meyer and his band will perform two concerts this holiday season: 7pm Saturday, December 3 and 2pm Sunday, December 4 at the Sunriver Resort Homestead Ballroom.
Hosted by Sunriver Music Festival and the Sunriver Area Chamber of Commerce along with presenting sponsor Sunriver Resort, Aaron Meyer and his four-piece band have been captivating audiences worldwide displaying virtuosity ranging from a dynamic rendition of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons to Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb to the Beatles classic Let it Be. He will also be performing songs from his holiday albums.
It wasn’t an easy feat for him to earn the distinction of being world-renowned as a concert rock violinist.
Aaron’s dream to play in Philadephia
Aaron was trained as a classical violinist with his dad as his first teacher while he was teaching other kids. He was a serious teacher, teaching seven days a week and immersed in it all the time. His father had a student who won a contest to play with the Philadelphia orchestra. Aaron saw this when he was five and said he wanted to play with them and that became his obsession, to reach that goal. His father threw a party for that student that won, with a cake shaped like a violin. All Aaron wanted was that cake. His father helped him when he was five to get to that goal. He lost the competition when he was nine but won at ten and soloed when he was 11 with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Aaron quits his dream:
He quit at 11 because he reached his goal even though all the top teachers wanted to teach him. Aaron says he fumbled around for a while and eventually went to summer music camps and loved it but didn’t want to be told what to do. He finally was motivated anew, enrolling at Indiana University as a classical violin student. Yet, once there, he saw many who were better and compared himself to those violinists as well as looked at uninspiring jobs that violinists have. After he transferred to Lewis and Clark, he studied and graduated in natural science and then took a year off and backpacked through Southeast Asia. He came back to Portland to look for a job and couldn’t find anything within natural science so he took a job playing in a pick-up orchestra.
Pink Martini plays with Aaron Meyer
He started playing with Pink Martini in 1996 when they were well known in Portland but nowhere else and played with them for a year and a half, learning invaluable lessons besides music. He gained valuable business skills as well as learned the value of combining music styles.
“I feel like I’ve been blessed with people to show me the way in this business and I was open to it.” Aaron says.
Aaron’s Mentors
He played with Michael Allen Harrison, who taught him contemporary new age music. Eventually, he wanted to be on his own and worked with Bill Lamb who taught him to claim rock violinist as his personal style. Each musician he collaborated with, provided him with new skills and insight, inspiring him to advance his music to the next level.
Tim Ellis, a master guitar player, was one of the most influential musicians and mentors in Aaron’s career. Tim and Aaron played together in Bangkok, Fiji and Cambodia, and he provided Aaron with the vision of how his music should sound.
In 2016, Tim passed away from cancer, leaving six children and a wife, and a closely-knit music community throughout Oregon, including Sunriver and Bend. Devastated by his friend’s death, Aaron realized how much Tim had done for him.
“I am incredibly grateful for everyone who has inspired my music career. Because they were so generous in sharing their love of music with me, I found my true calling in music by being a concert rock violinist,” Aaron says. “Sharing music with my audiences brings me incredible joy.”
Reserve Tickets
Tickets are on sale now for the December 3 and 4 concerts and can be purchased at sunrivermusic.org. $45 per person includes free beer from Sunriver Brewing Company as well as hot cider or coffee for a cozy winter night out enjoying concert rock violinist Aaron Meyer and his virtuosic band.
Sunriver Music Festival is committed to expanding the audience for classical music by nurturing the next generation of artistic talent and by presenting a world-class musical experience for Central Oregon residents and visitors.