SpringfieldNewsSun.com

SPRINGFIELD — Imagine being a blacksmith in 1908, the year Henry Ford cranked out the first Model T.

The uncertainty. The paranoia.

The dread.

Now you know how classical musicians must feel most every day — like their centuries-old craft is about to be creamed by a Tin Lizzie whose freewheeling occupants have neither time nor patience anymore.

It's a fast world and getting faster, and classical musicians are still clanging out horseshoes for anybody still wanting to take a long, soul-searching journey.

Or so the perception goes.

"All my life, I've heard that classical music is dying," explained Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn. "We've been in death mode for at least 20 years."

Hahn, who turns 30 in November, will give a free recital on Tuesday, March 3, at Kuss Auditorium.

Fresh from another Grammy win, the recital marks Hahn's first local appearance since 2004, when she performed with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.

While raised in Baltimore, Hahn has strong local ties.

Her late grandparents were Wittenberg University math professor Will Hahn and South High librarian Martha Anne Strowd Hahn.

As part of Wittenberg's Witt Series, her return appearance has all the makings of a must-see event — after all, someone of this caliber performing for free probably shouldn't be overlooked.

If Hahn isn't the future of classical music — for all anybody knows, all music will be reduced to 10-second ringtones — then she's at least become a well-spoken defender of the present.

"With all we're putting into it," she declared, "there's no way it's going to die."

As you know, blacksmiths didn't fare all that well, although they still at least could serve the Amish.

Classical musicians in the 21st century have found themselves serving a smaller audience, too.

Despite her two Grammys and mainstream credentials — she was the featured violinist on the soundtrack to M. Night Shyamalan's 2004 movie "The Village" — Hahn has found it impossible to get herself booked on TV talk shows.

"I don't understand the phenomenon of shutting out classical music," Hahn said, "but I like the result.

"You get people at concerts for all the right reasons. They're there because they want to be there."

All the talk of classical music dying has secretly helped, as well.

"That's made us stronger as an art form," Hahn said. "We have to question what we do."

But wouldn't it be nice not to have to fight for attention?

At this month's Grammy Awards, where Hahn's recording of Schoenberg and Sibelius violin concertos won the Grammy for best instrumental soloist performance with orchestra (it also was up for best classical album), she got to perform on stage.

You didn't get to see it.

"If you're in classical music," she said, "you perform during the pretelecast."

And so, during prime-time, the young woman who'd debuted with the Baltimore symphony at age 11 had to sit and watch Lil Wayne's shtick.

She's much more diplomatic about the whole thing.

"None of us performing," she said, "are there by coincidence.

"You can't put everything in the telecast. Something's got to go."

Then again, classical music has proven itself to be the most resilient of genres.

"Classical music has made it through a lot of stuff through the centuries," Hahn said.

Think about it.

Wars, plagues.

More wars. More plagues.

It's still here.

It's only real problem is that, in the age of text-messages and Twitter, it's still gigantic in scope.

"How do you summarize it in two minutes?" Hahn asked. "There's so much variety to it, and it doesn't fit into one category. It's not as neat. I like that about it."

Hahn does what she can to reach new audiences.

She Twitters. She has her own YouTube channel. She collaborated with the rock band And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead.

But she's also firmly rooted in tradition.

Hahn was the featured soloist at Pope Benedict's 80th birthday party at the Vatican in 2007.

It's all paying off.

Her 2008 album "Schoenberg/Sibelius: Violin Concertos," recorded with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, combined works by two 20th century composers to marvelous results.

The album — her fifth in six years for Deutsche Grammophon — debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's classical chart, marking the first time a Schoenberg recording has charted.

"Schoenberg is one of those composers people have these preconceived notions about," Hahn said. "A lot of those impressions are wrong. A lot of people are scared of stuff that's supposed to be difficult."

For her next album, she's tackled Bach with the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

It's surprising Hahn can even think about her next move.

"I don't know anything," she joked, "but I'm in a doomed profession."

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.

How to go

Who: Hilary Hahn, violin, with pianist Valentina Lisitsa

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 3

Where: Kuss Auditorium

Cost: Free

More info: (937) 328-3874

The program

Eugene Ysaye: Sonata for solo violin No. 4

Charles Ives: Sonata for violin and piano No. 4

Johannes Brahms: "Hungarian Dances"

Ives: Sonata for violin and piano No. 2

Ysaye: Sonata for solo violin No. 6

Ysaye: "Reve d'enfant"

Ives: Sonata for violin and piano No. 1

Bela Bartok: "Romanian Folk Dances"