Kristi Roller, one of our Youth Orchestra of Charlotte cellist, was the 2018 recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial cello (Pearl Award) which she received at the O’Connor Strings Camp this summer in Charlotte. Kristi said that she was so surprised to receive the cello, and grateful to be able to spread the love of music with such a fine instrument in the YOC, led by Dr. Ernest Pereira, and its talented group of young people.
The Pearl Award was inspired in 2002 by, Jonathan Cooper, a well-respected violin maker from Maine, who had the wonderful idea of honoring Daniel Pearl, the violinist, fiddler, and journalist who was murdered in Pakistan earlier that year. To continue Daniel’s legacy through a musical mission of peace, Jon crafted a work of art, the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, and presented it to composer and violinist, Mark O’Connor, at a Boston concert in honor of Daniel. From that initial inspiration, the array of Daniel Pearl Memorial Instruments grew, eventually becoming a
quartet of uniquely beautiful stringed instruments dedicated to Danny’s memory.
Two violins crafted by Cooper, as well as a cello and a viola, are now presented each year to promising young musicians by Mark O’Connor at his strings camp, as determined by his faculty. These students are awarded the honor to play these instruments for a year, and are also given a scholarship to return to camp the next year and continue the tradition of passing their instruments on to the next deserving musician. Kristi shares in the sentiments of her cello’s maker who is quoted, “By passing these instruments through so many hands and playing past musical borders, we hope that the beautiful sound of these violins (instruments) will help inspire listeners to live in harmony, on a peaceful planet.”–Jon Cooper. Kristi, a high school, homeschooled, senior, intends on playing her Pearl Award cello throughout her final year of orchestra.
