Classical violinist Rachel Barton Pine, who wowed the metal community playing an electric long-range violin with metal band Earthen Grave, will join Indiana’s Lafayette Symphony Orchestra to present Shredding With The Symphony on Sunday, May 23 at 7:30 pm at the Long Center (Long Center, located at 111 N. 6th Street in Lafayette, IN). Tickets are $8-$35 and may be purchased

It’s certainly not a traditional concert, as the program features music from Van Halen, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Rush, Nirvana, Metallica and Led Zeppelin as well as Shostakovich, Bruch, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Sibelius, and Paganini.

Pine may have a vibrant career as an international classical concert violinist, but she has also enjoyed playing an extended-range electric violin with the doom metal band Earthen Grave on the side.  She earned praise for her 1997 album Stringendo in which she recorded songs like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Thunderstruck” on her acoustic violin, as well as rocking classical pieces like Paganini Caprice #24 and the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia.

“In practicing and preparing the songs for Stringendo, I discovered that a lot of the heavy metal I’d been listening to was some of the most sophisticated compositionally of all rock music, and very inspired by classical music,” Pine has said, “Then all these people in ripped jeans started coming to my concerts.”  

She writes in her program notes, “Many of the great rock artists have been inspired by classical compositions and historic performers …. A genre isn’t merely defined by particular chords, certain instruments, or even a minimum volume level. It’s about the attitude of the musicians and the feeling of the listeners – great classical, like great metal, grabs you by the throat, hits you in the gut, tears you down, lifts you up, and makes you feel ALIVE.”

Described by the Washington Post as a “boundary-defying performer,” Pine began classical violin studies at age three and made her professional debut at age seven.  By the time she was a teenager Pine was practicing her violin for eight hours a day, and started listening to rock and metal to unwind.