Thomas Ezra Cornell Collum | Violinist

One of the earliest and most impressionistic experiences for me was attending the concert of a family friend, a professional flautist, who let me sit in a chair in the back of the second violin section during the sound check before the concert. They were playing Dvorak’s 9th Symphony, The New World. To this day, I remember how compelling the technique was of the 5th chair fist violinist, several years before I began learning to play.

Throughout childhood and into early adulthood, my path with violin was circuitous. Despite being lead astray by the notion that the proverbial ship had sailed and that I would never cut it as a professional violinist because I was too far behind, I always kept taking lessons and practicing on the side as a hobby but while emotionally investing more than in my more “practical” and “primary” pursuits. I tried other things and I lived other lives until I realized that those other lives were just not working for me. So I finally took the plunge and dedicated myself to finding a way to make life as a violinist work.

My path has been so very atypical compared to most of my peers and colleagues in the music industry, but in some ways, I value that the most and I know that I am absolutely doing what I’m meant to do. I’m the luckiest person for getting to dedicating all of my being to what I love most; violin. I’m now living my best life.