The Violinist

I had a happy childhood. My mom was sort of a prostitute and my dad was put in prison for trying to kill me when I was three. That's not why I was happy, of course; I was happy because I was born that way... So begins the tale of The Violinist--a semi-autistic composer who, after long struggle, finds sudden celebrity from his new form of music: countertonality. But even as his reputation and popularity grow, he is plagued by doubts--why should people listen? Why should he continue playing? As his doubts overtake him and the costs of refusing to perform the classical war horses mount, he finds he is losing everything--his work, his love, his fellow musicians to AIDS--and his only solace becomes a secret stolen property, hoarded and treasured since childhood. Music isn't the problem for the Violinist; the problem is lack of love, or too much of it; too much work, or none at all; the problem is how to live--though via his music he was able to touch many, many other lives and provide for strangers the very thing he most lacked. Robert Kahn turns in a virtuoso performance in this gripping character study of a man struggling to keep faith and hope in a world he barely understands.