CLEARWATER, Fla. — Sophia Isaak started young. Really young.
“I’ve been playing violin since I was 2 and a half years old. So almost nine years now.”
She knows what it takes to be good.
“Focus and hard work and just knowing how to have fun.”
Then she started watching videos of Lindsey Stirling play, and she thought, “Wow! I like this girl.”
Sterling combines her classical roots with pop, rock, and electronic dance music and is a worldwide phenomenon, selling more than a million albums. Fans like Sophia say her live performances set her apart.
“She’s really just an icon for a bunch of violinist out there. So, when I saw her out there doing all tricks and her violin and I was really like I wanna do that someday,” Isaak said.
I talked with Sterling on Zoom in the middle of her tour which includes a show at The Sound in Clearwater.
“It’s really special. I’ve seen a lot of young girls. I’ve seen a lot of young boys. I’ve seen a lot of adults that have picked up the violin,” said Sterling.
She says in college she discovered a way to blend violin into different genres.
“I went on this search to find out what I even liked to play. As a classical violinist, you don’t even really get to choose what you play. At least I never did. It was just always told to me. So, I just went on this search to make it fun again,” said Sterling.
Stirling tells me she didn’t add in the dance elements until her 20s and didn’t do aerial work until she was 33.
“I think it’s really exciting to me when I see people for all different ages or genders or walks of life that have been inspired somehow by a piece of what I do. And it’s made them realize that you can do it now. It’s never too late,” said Sterling.
Sophia’s mom is a professional musician who’s played with Stirling in the past.
“She has the background as a classical violinist. She brings that training and understanding and she fuses it with the rock, the pop, her own original interpretation, and then she brings another layer with the dance, the acrobatics, the theatrics,” said Betsy Isaak.
Stirling says she’s always trying to top what she’s done on tour in the past.
“The aerial acrobatics are the most daring we’ve ever done.”
One day, Sophia would like to do the same.
“Combining talent and hard work and violin and dance and put it into an amazing show,” Sophia said.
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