Violinist David Garrett: biography, personal life, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Amazing violinist David Garrett is unique in everything! He absolutely does not care where to perform, whether it be the privileged audience of London's Royal Albert Hall or in the open air on the street, in front of ordinary passers-by. He feels comfortable in an exquisitely expensive tailcoat, as well as in ripped jeans and a simple T-shirt. “The main thing is the opportunity to play and give people music,” as David Garrett himself said. The biography of the musician, the first years of his life and the events that mainly influenced the formation of the personality are described below.

Nickname

The future violinist was born in 1980 on September 4 in the town of Aachen, a place where three countries meet: Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. His mother is a famous American ballerina, and his father is a lawyer who also sells violins at auction. Father's occupations mainly influenced the youngest son's passion for music. By the way, Garrett is not the real name of the musician, or rather, for his pseudonym, he chose his mother's maiden name and became world famous as David Garrett. The family of the musician bears the surname of his father - Bongarts.

Fateful gift

There are several versions that reveal the case in which the violin first fell into the hands of little David. One by one,the violin was given to the boy's older brother, who showed little interest in it. While the four-year-old boy looked at this instrument with admiration and showed special interest in it, and after a while he learned to play perfectly.

Another story tells that a little boy grabbed the violin as soon as he saw it and did not allow it to be given to his brother. However, it does not matter how the violin fell into the hands of the future legend, the only important thing is that he ended up with it, and to this day he does not part with it.

As David Garrett himself said, his biography was rather complicated. The father raised the children in a harsh environment. He was very authoritative in the family. Everything that was connected with human emotions or their manifestation was omitted. Only conversations about business and music were important. Because of this, David's relationship with his parents was strained. But this is about adolescence, now they have become warmer and more trusting.

Difficult childhood

David's childhood was peculiar, in the best traditions of the 18th century. Until the age of 17, he practically did not leave the house. He lived in his "soap bubble", and his acquaintance with peers was reduced only to communication with his sister and brother. The boy did not attend school, studied with tutors at home and devoted all his free time to playing the violin. The talent of the little boy showed up very early. And when David was 10 years old, he was hired by the best violin teacher, who at that time was Professor of the Cologne Conservatory Zakhar NukhimovichBron.

The career of a professional violinist began very early for the boy. As soon as he was eight years old, he played in the world famous symphony orchestra, and at thirteen he performed with Yehudi Menuhin. Even then, honored masters called David Garrett the greatest violinist of his generation.

Adult career of a little boy

After enchanting performances, the young talent was noticed and began to be invited to television. He appeared on Dutch and German broadcasts.

Perhaps the most important evidence of the great professionalism of the little boy was the invitation of the President of Germany, Richard von Weizsäcker, to give a concert at the presidential residence at Villa Hammerschmidt. As a sign of respect and recognition of his professionalism, the head of state presented David with a unique Stradivarius violin.

This is not the only exclusive violin in the virtuoso violinist's collection. He now plays a Stradivarius created in 1703, but he likes to change his instruments, as each has its own unique sound, voice and soul, according to David Garrett. The biography of a teenager was so colorful and filled with events that few people experienced at such an early age.

Already at the age of 14, the boy signed a contract, unique for that time, with Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft as the youngest soloist in the history of the company. In Delhi and Bombay, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the proclamationIndependence of India, he played with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta.

When he was 19 years old, he received a lot of positive reviews from music critics after playing under the direction of Rafael Frübeck de Burgos with the Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra in Berlin. After such success, he was invited to speak at a very prestigious and world famous exhibition in Hannover Expo-2000.

To this day, David Garrett remains the fastest virtuoso violinist to play Flight of the Bumblebee in one minute. His record was listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

"Other" music

In his family, other than classical music, they did not know. David grew up exclusively on Shostakovich, Beethoven and Bach. When he got a little older, he started discovering rock bands like Queen, Metallica and AC/DC. By the way, the first rock album Garrett bought was A Night at the Opera.

A Fateful Decision

The signing of a contract with a recording studio soon gave its results, and the world knew who David Garrett was. Albums released at that time consisted of classical music.

At that time, his father decided everything for him, and, tired of humility, he took his first independent step, which turned out to be crucial for David and his future career as a musician. As soon as he was 17 years old, he moved to New York to enter the Juilliard School (Juilliard School). It was the most famous music conservatory in the world.

Such a radical solutionparents liked it, and he was forced to break off all contacts with them, which also affected the financial security of the boy. David paid for his education on his own, literally “clinging” to any job that came across, not shunning anything. He washed dishes, worked as a model in a women's clothing store, even washed toilets in clubs. His modeling career brought him considerable success, he is still called the "Beckham of the classical scene", and his image is more suitable for a rock musician than a classical music performer.

The time of study at the academy is associated with numerous jobs and a very busy life - only David Garrett himself talks about this, the personal life of a true legend remains a mystery.

Plans for the future family

Due to the harsh nature of his father and the atmosphere in which David grew up, he decided to become the exact opposite of his father for his future children. More than once in an interview, he said that he did not want to raise children in the atmosphere in which he himself grew up.

However, about how his mother raised him, he responds very warmly and with gratitude. Mom was able to instill in the boy thriftiness and taught him to order. David learned to manage the housework on his own very early. He still tries to do everything himself, does not like chaos and disorder, and is very strict about this. He's just obsessed with cleanliness. It will not be difficult for him to wash the floors. World-famous violinist David Garrett compares cleaning to meditation.

In those moments when the musician is at home, he is mainly engaged in preparing forconcerts. But in order to concentrate, he must first establish a certain order around himself. Interestingly, in a conversation about housekeeping, the violinist never mentions a life partner. David Garrett, whose personal life is hidden under seven locks, has not yet introduced his life partner to the world.

Legacy

The creative activity of the musician is amazing. By the age of 36, he is very popular in musical circles, but not only as a musician, but also as a screenwriter, director, and even actor David Garrett. His albums are sold in millions of copies and amaze with a combination of classical music and the image of a rock musician.

David is quite productive, in some years he managed to release two albums. So, in 2007 he released two albums: Free and Virtuoso. 2008 was less productive - Encore, but already in 2009 two collections of masterpieces were again created under the name David Garrett and Classic Romance. The last album, Rock Symphonies, released in 2010, was unique. This, according to the author, is his best work, created in the style of crossover, which combines different musical directions.

Fame in the cinema brought him the main role in the film "Paganini: The Devil's Violinist", released in 2013. Later, he starred in one episode of the famous television series Quantico.

It is worth noting that today he has achieved everything he wanted, and the world has known who David Garrett is. His biography is striking in the large number of successes that he achieved back inadolescence.

As for a serious relationship, he himself says that he is still free, but this is not entirely true. There were rumors, and photos surfaced on the Web of David Garrett and his girlfriend Tatyana Gellert cooing cutely at a fashion show in New York.