observed8 la vida boca
Bow Vivant Young Violinist Brianna Kahane Wows The World By Bill Bowen
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heir daughter Brianna emulating the stay-at-home slacker generation is not a particular worry for Karen and Robert Kahane of Delray Beach. Brianna was an impressive violinist at age 4, an accomplished performer and YouTube sensation at 6, a TV phenomenon at 7 and an international star soon thereafter. She’s 8 now, a rising third-grader at Pine Crest School in Boca Raton, and OK, still living at home. But her career is well under way. Brianna’s popularity went viral following her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show shortly after her seventh birthday. Soon she was performing for iconic violinists Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell, and palling around with Sarah Brightman and David Foster, who called her “one of the next big talents.” She’s charitable, too. She’s got her own foundation, through which she contributes to the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, Miami Children’s Hospital, Make-A-Wish Foundation and others. And she donated her time to perform at the renowned Celebrity Fight Night fund-raiser in Phoenix with legendary “Soul Man” Sam Moore (with whom she’s currently recording an album) and American Idol judge Randy Jackson, who played bass, where she received a double standing ovation.
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Got the world on a string: Brianna Kahane
It would appear the prodigy has grown accustomed to hob-knobbing with celebrities: Her online photo album features snaps of her posing and smiling alongside Muhammad Ali, Reba McEntire, Kris Kristofferson, Charice, Donald Trump, Regis Philbin and dozens of others. How did this happen? Presenting your offspring with a violin at the age of 3 is only part of the process, explains her mom, Karen. “We were in a department store when she was about one-and-a-
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half,” says Karen, “and classical music was playing and she said, ‘Mommy, I know this song’ from her Disney videos. I thought: ‘This kid has a pretty good ear.’” Nothing more true has ever occurred to a parent. Brianna has a photographic memory and perfect pitch. She plays classical pieces and contemporary works, and can memorize complex compositions in just days. She studied at the Lynn Conservatory and describes her thought process like this: “When I play, I think
about flowers in a garden, and bees going back and forth to them and back to their hive.” Later this month, she’ll audition for the prestigious Juilliard School after studying this summer at Indiana University under virtuoso Mimi Zweig, who taught Joshua Bell. That was arranged after Brianna saw Bell at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. “I took along my violin, just in case,” she explains. Definitely wise beyond her years.O