So I like to think of myself as a bit of a daredevil – I don’t play a traditional acoustic violin, or at least I haven’t in many years – electric violin gives me the freedom to experiment with all sorts of sound effects , I LOVE being insanely loud and not having to worry about feedback and I’m always up for something new and exciting hence being a laser violinist and an aerial violinist – I’m a performer before I’m a musician – my favourite gigs are the ones where I get to create a serious impact and not just be another violinist that adds to the ambience

Where my love of being the ‘extreme violinist’ started -- performing ON TOP of a front-end loader for an Atlas Copco launch in Kitwe, Zambia back in 2005!

But I can’t always have it my way right? Most of my time is spent performing at corporate events, and something that is incredibly frustrating for me is that I often find that my clients have very set ideas of what a solo violinist should be doing at an event – strolling between tables serenading their glamorous guests – not particularly challenging and not at all exciting for me if I’m completely honest. I’m often reminded by my friends & family that I’m extremely lucky to be doing what I love ‘for a living’ – and I am – what is cool is that lately my gigs seem to be getting more and more exciting and ridiculously ‘out there’, so I’m getting the best of both worlds – Hannah Montana style!

2010 -- performing aerial violin at Vaudeville & The Fez in Cape Town, South Africa (I love the blondie in the bottom left-hand corner -- how do you think I feel lady? )

There is of course aerial violin – I was trained by Natalie & Orlando of Sircusynergy for an event in Seychelles back in April (Remember:Bohemia! in Seychelles) since then I’ve performed at Cape Town hot spot Vaudeville & The Fez on many a Saturday night with the likes of SA mega-dance act ‘Goldfish’ and DJ’s such as Roger Goode – all whilst flying across thousands of people upside down – now that’s exciting!

Now just to confuse matters,  I actually have a bunch of corporate aerial gigs coming up in October with Sircusynergy, so as boring as they sometimes can be -- really corporates aren’t always bad, (I’m just terribly impatient and want to hit rockstar status NOW!) on the contrary there are some really creative show directors around that think up amazing concepts, I get to meet and work with some fabulous people, corporates usually have great stages and sound and lighting rigs and I do often get to do the serenading thing and then step up on stage and perform my heart out. The travelling between Johannesburg and Cape Town does get to me sometimes (I had 114 flights last year!) but then I get to jet off to somewhere exciting like Ghana or Mauritius once in a while and Zambian gigs are always a great excuse to take a couple of days off to spend some time at home with my family!

But don’t worry guys -- the ones I’m always talking about on Facebook -- the ones I actually tell you about and post on Youtube- those are the ones that I can’t get enough of! For those of you wondering what I do at these formal private events that I perform at, check this video out, it’s a great example of a more fun corporate without the added adrenalin rush of lasers or aerial rigging: