International Violinist Bets on Peekskill
Violinist Daisy Jopling believes in the power of Peekskill — that’s why she’s headed back to the Paramount Theatre May 19 for a repeat performance and why she’s set on establishing a non-profit arts education program in the city.
The initiative, which would be modeled on the Harmony Project in Los Angeles, would teach children instruments in an effort to ground them and encourage them to stay in school.
The Los Angeles model is “extremely well-structured,” Jopling said, and a “great success.”
“I have this dream to start up a program where kids can actually have private lessons,” she said. “Music is just such a way of expressing, it totally changes their lives.”
Jopling visited downtown Peekskill’s BeanRunner Cafe on Wednesday to draw attention to her upcoming concert and meet with city bigwigs like Mayor Mary Foster and Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Deborah Milone.
Milone told Jopling she thought it’d be possible to find space in Peekskill for the project.
“There is space available. You’ll just have to see what the budget allows,” Milone said. “We’ll have to put our heads together and see what creativity we can come up with.”
Jopling said she’s excited for her concert because it will help show that the violin is a phenomenally versatile instrument that stretches beyond cliches and its representation in pop culture.
“You can start by playing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,’ but you can move on to playing hip hop, jazz, salsa,” she said. “Whatever you love, you can do that.”
She said her concerts usually show audiences a different side of the violin.
“It’s something about not quite knowing what to expect, or expecting something not quite as fun from a violin performer,” she said. “Somehow the music brings the whole community together, and I think it’s very much about that.”
She said she loves the moment when she knows she’s won over a difficult audience.
“The journey is a little bit harder because people are like, ‘No, I don’t want to come to that,’ ” she said, laughing, “but when they get there, they are just so totally amazed.”
Jopling said she’s recently completed her first album, which marries traditional classical music with other musical styles like reggae.
“I finally wanted to come back to my roots, but in a new way,” she said, adding that she sought out musicians who had never performed classical music before. “It’s an intense and challenging journey to break out but I feel like we’re finding this recipe that’s working.”
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
