Today we’d like to introduce you to Lily Honigberg.
Hi Lily, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in a household of music. My parents gifted me a violin for my fourth birthday a little over 23 years ago (apparently, I begged for one!). I started off learning Classical music, guided heavily by my father, now in his 40th season as a cellist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, and attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, an arts boarding school located in Northern Michigan, for all of high school. I was accepted into the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston for Classical violin and was introduced to their Contemporary Improvisation department while I was studying there. I ended up staying at NEC for a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Improvisation. While I was at NEC, I spent some time in Ireland and fell in love with traditional Irish music. It is a large part of who I am as an artist today, and I just released my first full-length album of fiddle music I’ve written in the last five years titled “The Sun’s Valley”! It is out on all streaming platforms. Alongside the fiddle music I create, I also gig regularly in the Los Angeles area, playing for different artists in the rap, pop, singer-songwriter, and movie soundtrack worlds.
I am a performer and as I get older, I see more and more clearly that part of my purpose is to break down the formal barrier in concert settings and invite audiences to partake more in an inclusive experience rather than a “the performer exists here and the audience exists here” type of space. Many of my curated programs have been and will continue to be works by classical composers as well as traditional folk music from many traditions while also incorporating improvised music.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
All my life, I felt like the path had been paved for me to become a classical violinist in an orchestra. I loved the actual music, but never really felt like I was playing with the people around me in a creative way, especially being in such competitive institutions as a young person. During my teenage years with the violin, I began to get the feeling that being in an orchestra full-time was not for me. The moment really hit when I toured with the National Youth Orchestra the summer before college. I was so fortunate to be making music at the highest level possible with the most incredible young musicians in America. We played from Carnegie Hall to Walt Disney Hall in LA all across the country. It was after this tour that I realized it was not something that would fulfill me full-time. I loved fiddle music and decided that in college, I would start to turn a bit more that way. Amidst my college years, I traveled to Ireland several times to live with locals in Country Mayo, working on a farm during the day and sitting in on pub sessions by night. Once I was immersed in the culture over there, I knew that playing fiddle music was going to be a large part of my musical identity. I still adore playing classical music and cherish and continue to build the skills I began learning as a child. I perform with my father regularly in classical chamber music settings and have even taught him a folk tune or two 🙂
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a diverse violinist in the sense that I play and compose technically demanding and interesting fiddle music that is influenced by classical music, soundtrack music, pop, new acoustic music, improvised music, Lady Gaga, Colleen, and more. I feel very at home improvising in sessions, and some of my favorite ones are when I show up to work with an artist who wants strings on their music but doesn’t quite know how to write for strings (and has no parts). We get to come up with the parts together, and it never fails to be incredibly fulfilling to watch artists light up as we bring their songs to life by adding strings. I also play classical music and read at a high level, and I owe a lot of those skills to Meadowmount, a 7-week camp in upstate New York I attended for two summers as a teenager where everyone under the age of 18 was forced to practice 5 hours a day. Never in my life have I progressed so quickly as I did in those summers, and I still love practicing to this day because of that experience!
I find that playing many styles of music on the violin has set me up for a life of unpredictability within the gig world of Los Angeles, and I am having so much fun day to day and gig to gig, unsure of what the next moment will hold. It feels surreal to look down at my violin in hand and know that playing, performing, composing, teaching, and recording is how I get to make a living.
I have several projects out on Spotify and Apple Music, including “Sunrise Summit” (2021), my debut EP of fiddle music with bassist James Heazlewood-Dale and legendary Irish guitarist John Doyle, “The Sun’s Valley”, my debut full-length album release just a month ago on August 13th, 2023 featuring fabulous musicians from Los Angeles, including Titanic and Braveheart’s piper and whistle player Eric Rigler, and a classical EP titled “Rose Garden” (2023) that I recorded on the label Etymology Classics back in June in New York with my dear friend Sonia Bize on harp.
What does success mean to you?
Success is tiny steps every day towards your overall goals. It is feeling good, inspiring others, growing and evolving constantly, and staying true to your voice and the person and artist you want to be. It is also keeping yourself well-rounded, active, and healthy outside of your art.
Contact Info:
- Website: lilyhonigberg.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilybelknap/?hl=en
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/56KW7bpxplhBHWPjtSfKYr?si=abTj53aURPyv9LZsXxeuZQ
Image Credits
Petie Sjogren
