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Friends of Music: Eric Silberger thrills the crowd

BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO | Eric Silberger performing at the Shelter Island Friends of music concert at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church on April 22.
BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO | Eric Silberger performing at the Shelter Island Friends of music concert at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church on April 22.

Any concert of classical music offers the opportunity to provide something special: a unique performer, an extraordinary instrument, a daring program, a valued accompanist, and an unusually engaged audience.

Last week’s concert of the Shelter Island Friends of Music generated all of these results.

The young, but already revered, violinist Eric Silberger provided a level of audience excitement that few in the crowd will soon forget. The violinist is no stranger to the Island having studied and performed for several years at the Perlman Music Program. Audiences have cherished his prodigious talent beginning in his teen years through his now mature, established career.

This recent concert was his second performance at the Friends of Music and was part of the organization’s 40th anniversary celebration, where audience favorites have been invited back to commemorate our special season.

The program began with the lovely, lyrical Grieg Sonata for violin and piano which established the ravishing sound of Mr. Silberger’s sublime Guadagnini instrument that enhanced the entire concert. The great work on the program belonged, as it often does, to Beethoven. His sonata for violin and piano (the “Kreutzer”), one of the musical landmarks of the 19th century, was dispatched with apparent ease by Mr. Silberger and his marvelous pianist, Kwan Yi, and provided a thrilling ending to a memorable evening.