Earth’s fastest violinist

Classically trained violinist David Garrett sends his hellos to San Diego: “I played Balboa Theatre back in January 2012, so I’m very much looking forward to visiting again.”

He won’t elaborate on the latest bells and whistles in his stage show for the Balboa again on January 26, saying only, “I don’t want to give too much away, but there is some new material as well as more familiar tracks, with some great twists...a little something for everyone!”

Judging from several YouTube clips, though, a David Garrett concert includes plenty of rock and pop (“Kashmir” to “Smooth Criminal” to “Smells Like Teen Spirit”), a lot of lights, a lot of ladies craned ecstatically upward at the German-American blue-jeaned blond hunk (he took his mother’s last name for professional use, citing “Bongartz” as a mouthful), and enough stomping to reasonably evoke Riverdance.

Garrett left the Royal College of Music in London after one semester, having admitted breaking into the facility to do extra practice (an episode he conveniently forgot to address for the Reader). He graduated from NYC’s Juilliard and did modeling on the side for pin money. He’s in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Earth’s Fastest Violinist, topping out at 13 notes per second.