Canadian violinist Adrian Anatawan
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Canadian violinist Adrian Anantawan is changing the music industry for the better.
Anantawan was born without his right hand and most of his forearm, but didn’t let that stop him from exploring music. The violin was his instrument of choice, so when he was 10, his family enlisted engineers to build a customized device to help him play it.
The result was a “spatula” device — a plaster cast with Velcro and a tongue that allows him to control the bow. It was love at first note. “From the very first note that I was playing, I was really attracted to the sound and the connection of my body to the instrument and being able to express my imagination,” he recently told Good Morning America.
He went on to study at the Curtis Institute of Music, then earned advanced degrees at both Yale and Harvard. Anatawan has performed at the White House, the Vancouver and Athens Olympics, and various other iconic venues. In July, he played a recital at the Kennedy Center in honor of the 34th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
