INhonolulu Magazine Issue #16 - April 2014 | Page 28

From page 27
current through my body that
just needed to hear the violin, just
needed to feel it underneath my
chin and just go and play. And that
was the time that it came into very
clear focus that that’s what I wanted to do with my life.”
Meyers is now a seasoned veteran with a couple dozen albums
under her belt, ranging from Baroque classics to modern compositions for amplified violin to
Asian fusion.
“Japanese music has always been
very influential to me, its rich heritage, and my mother being from
Tokyo,” explains Meyers. “I identify with a lot of the cultural aspects
of Japan. I love that that influence
is so strong in Honolulu.”
Meyers performed several times
with the now-defunct Honolulu Symphony, but this is her first
bout alongside the new Hawaii
Symphony. The Prokofiev piece
she will play is exceptionally accessible for a 20th-century work,
itself written on the concert trail.
“It has a lot of Spanish influences,” Meyers says. “There are even
castanets in the last movement,
because he was concertizing and
touring when he wrote the concerto, and he was in like a different
city for each movement. And finally, it was premiered in Madrid. The
Spaniards were so thrilled with the
outcome of the concerto that they
sent a delegation to Russia to congratulate Prokofiev for his efforts.”
Meyers ranks in the top strata of
the Classical Music atmosphere—
we’re lucky to have an artist of her
caliber visit. The Prokofiev itself is
worth the price of admission, and
Meyers is the perfect player to take
on the challenge of executing the
piece. Now a mature artist with
Page 28

Profile / Samuel Beam

A taste of Iron & Wine
Kelsey Amos

W

well-honed skills, Meyers will be
able to wrangle the piece into submission.
Conductor Junichi Hirokami
referees the evening, which will
also include Khachaturian’s “Masquerade Suite” and Strauss’ “Till
Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” and
“Rosenkavalier Suite.” ■

Sergei Prokofiev’s Concerto #2
in G minor
Blaisdell Concert Hall
777 Ward Ave.
Sat., April 5, 8pm
Sun., April 6, 4pm
$40–80.
808-768-5400
hawaiisymphonyorchestra.org/
concert/08-prokofiev-strauss/

hen I talk on the phone
with Samuel Beam,
the singer-songwriter
known as Iron & Wine, he seems
mildly amused, just like his demeanor in videos and interviews.
There’s an edge beneath his affect, like he’d be exasperated if he
weren’t such a mellow guy.
I’m stressing out because I’ve
just found out our phone interview is going to last all of ten minutes. I sense that’s part of what
he finds amusing—another in an
endless series of uptight music
writers with motives he can’t fathom—another inexplicable fan asking strange questions.
His detachment makes sense
since Beam is the real deal—a
true artist. When I ask him what
the point of art is, he laughs
and says, “I don’t know. That’s

not my job.” He’s got degrees in
film and painting, and he starts
to half-heartedly mumble something about art being a mirror
before he winds up saying that
people have a lot of definitions.
At one point he says, “I don’t try
to figure it out … I just have a lot
of creative energy to burn.”
People certainly are glad he’s
burning it. Iron & Wine is probably most widely known for his
breathy acoustic cover of The
Postal Service’s “Such Great
Heights,” as well as his personal
brand of soft country folk. His
first album, The Creek Drank the
Cradle, has the simplicity and
hushed quality of Nick Drake or
Simon and Garfunkel.
His recent work has evolved
away from this original sound,
becoming more up beat and pro-

duced. But his songs are still compelling. His 2011 album Kiss Each
Other Clean debuted at #2 on
the Billboard chart, according to
his website. For his latest album,
Ghost on Ghost, Beam collaborated with other artists to experiment
with pop, jazz, and R&B.
On collaboration, he says, “I
think it’s great. I think music’s
a lot of fun to play with a lot of
people. Life’s a lot more fun when
you share. It’s been a long process of learning how to do that,
because I’m not a trained musician. It’s been really fruitful and
really inspiring.”
“I don’t like to put the same
record out twice,” he says, but
adds, “There’s