Isaac Smith, a 9th grade student with the KEYS Academy, plays violin with the Inland Valley Symphony. The symphony performs twice annually; the next concert is March 16.
He said, “I have a lot of fun playing. If we all get our parts right, it sounds amazing.”
The 14-year-old began playing at age 6; he said it began after his family traded some peanut butter for a violin. He plays classical and Irish music, and has been instructed by five different violin teachers. He practices weekly with the orchestra, performing Gustav Holst’s A Somerset Rhapsody, Russian dances and the overture for Orpheus in the Underworld, an operetta by Jacques Offenbach (Isaac said, “The last act includes the Can-Can, which is very fun to play.”).
Isaac has been homeschooled throughout his life, and joined KEYS last fall. He lives in Lake Elsinore.
Isaac has traveled the world with his family. They took a three-year sailboat trip across the Pacific Ocean, sailing to such places as Mexico, the Marquesas Islands (“It took us 23 days to reach them. We could smell the dirt from five miles away.”), the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Society Islands (including Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine), the Cook Islands (and the Suwarrow atoll), Tonga, American Samoa, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu and Bundaberg, Australia.
He took a driving trip across Ireland, where he toured ruined castles and did a “hawk-walk.” He explained, “I got to actually ‘fly’ and hold a Harris’ hawk. It was amazing. I would let him go, then get him to come back to me afterwards. I had a lot of fun.”
He’s also been to Italy and Sardinia. Other interests include fencing, archery, shooting, scuba diving, fishing, boating, ATV riding, geocaching, riding a unicycle, making stop animation movies, playing computer games, performing magic tricks, playing with legos and collecting hats.
