Hector David brings violin to life in solo performance

By Emily Hertzler, WeatherVane student newspaper

Violinist Hector David
Violinist Hector David

In movies and theatre productions, violin music usually signals a melancholy scenes where deaths occur, or the leading lady and her lover are torn aapart. Through overuse of sad chords and the single violin accompanying particularly emotional deaths, violins have earned a reputation as strict, somber and sorrowful.

Hector David wishes to change that stereotype.

Hailing from Honduras, David joined Eastern Mennonite University as he led last chapel on Friday, Sept. 25. “He blew me away from the very beginning to the very last note,” says first-year Molly Boese.

Starting at the piano and using accompanying prerecorded music, David began his performance by singing a song with both English and Spanish lyrics. One of the lines he sang in English included, “With our hearts full of compassion, may we do what we must do.”

After the applause died down, David addressed the congregation of students and faculty, making clear his faith in Christ but emotionally saying, “we are in a fight every day