LEWISBURG (WVDN) – Lewisburg is going to experience a special pleasure on Friday, Nov. 11, with a performance musician Deni Bonet at Carnegie Hall.
“One thing people tell me, when they leave my show,” says Bonet in her naturally bubbly way,” When they leave my show, they feel happy. We have pieces that move you and leave you feeling good.”
Bonet has been playing violin since grade school. Her age is now “timeless” as she has traveled the world and gone from the Twister Sisters of Mountain Stage to world tour with Cindy Lauper and others, and back again to a more manageable duo with Chris Flynn on guitar.
“After my performance in Lewisburg I will return to my Mountain Stage family on Nov. 13 as a guest performer. I started performing with them in my early 20s. All of the Mountain Stage staff are like family,” she says.
Starting in grade school Bonet fell into violin playing because her teacher asked kids to bring their instruments to school.
“I didn’t have an instrument, but my mother did — a violin under her bed.” So, without her mother’s knowledge, Bonet produced a violin at school, received training on it, and surprised both her parents at the year-end school performance.
“Both of my parents became supportive, and I ended up at WVU and studied applied violin,” Bonet says. “I wanted to get a license to play, more or less, but classical was not the style and I didn’t want to teach.”
So, on weekends she played in a Texas swing band. “The difference between a violin and a fiddle is the style or way you hold the instrument. When I play in Ireland they like me, but I don’t play it their way. Plus, I do not sit still, I am wireless, so I go into the audience,” she says.
Bonet says one of the high points her career so far acquiring a fan club in Brazil. She has never performed there, she says, but her time touring with other bands has brought her fame around the world.
She says she also is excited about expanding her music. “Eight of my songs have been orchestrated, and two are vocals, by the Long Island Symphony Orchestra,” says Bonet.
She suggests that it would be a great thing to play with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra one day, but also wants to keep moving. “I like to travel. The world is not that big once you get there, and you make friends,” she says.
Many of her friends have come on board to collaborate on her recent recordings. The list is incredible: Matchbox 20 guitarist Matt Beck and Bon Jovi guitarist Greg Mayo are two of six guitarists she’s recorded with. Bassist Leland Sklar, who has played with Jackson Brown, Phil Collins and James Taylor is one of four bassists she’s recorded with along with drummer Steve Holley (Paul McCartney and Wings) and Stan Harrison on horns (David Bowie, Talking Heads, Stevie Ray Vaughn). Dozens of great musicians brought their talent to the studio, she says.
Bonet’s newest single is “Why Not You?” It can be found on her website, www.denibonet.com, along with links to the album, “Bright Shiny Objects.”
Her newest album will be released in 2023.
Tickets to Bonet’s concert are on sale now through Carnegie Hall.
