Call to Entry, Theatre Openings, and Island History

Town of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina sent this bulletin at 10/02/2018 09:54 AM EDT
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CELLIST DYLAN PEREZ:

EIGHT YEARS-OLD AND ON THE RISE

by Carolyn Males

The dark, dramatic theme song from The Game of Thrones arises against the backdrop of Skull Creek. As a sailboat glides by, a cello begins in a minor key and we’re transported beyond Hilton Head to that strange fantasy terrain where we swoop along a landscape of spinning and rising buildings, towers, and walls.

But the cello solo that’s swept us along on this journey isn’t from a professional musician but from 8 year-old Dylan Perez, a young, yet seasoned cellist who has just earned a seat in the Armstrong Youth Orchestra in Savannah.

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In other words, Dylan is no ordinary elementary school-aged boy taking his first lessons but a child prodigy who started his career at age three. Or even earlier, if you count those first musical moments in a playpen in the family’s home office where the toddler became transfixed by classical composers like Vivaldi and contemporary ones like John Williams as his father Omar worked on the computer.

“Dylan had been a bit colicky as a baby,” Omar Perez explains, “so I’d  turn on YouTube to soothing music videos and it had a calming effect on him.” His ear was especially attuned to the strings and he’d make bowing motions with his toys. But with one difference. He’d pick up a miniature guitar but instead of strumming it like a rock star or classical guitarist, he’d turn it vertically and “play” it like a cello.  With his brother Dominic, who is two years older, they’d drum out beats with matchbox cars or with a pair of bunny ears that had fallen off an old stuffed rabbit.

At the time the Perez family was living in Tulsa, Oklahoma so parents Omar and Carrie made a video of the then three-year old 

Dylan “performing” and contacted the University of Tulsa music department to see what they could do to get him started in music.  Composer-and-violinist Karen Harmon was intrigued. “Let me see how he responds to the orchestra,” she said and created a little box “cello”—essentially a cereal carton with a ruler for the neck and drawn in lines for strings. Then as the university orchestra played, she would have him, box cello in hand, stand by the side of the stage mimicking what the cellist was doing on stage.

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Too small for a real version of the instrument, he began studying the viola under the Suzuki method but, once again following his own muse, he played it upright like a cello. A year later, he graduated to a half-size cello and was accepted into the Tulsa Honors Youth Orchestra. “There was really a lot of fun music there,” Dylan recalls. He rattles off a playlist: Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and of course, the “Theme from Game of Thrones.”  “A show he has never seen nor will he ever,” quips his mother Carrie.

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He also attended music summer camps and three years ago, at age five, at the end of one of these sessions Dylan played with Annie Moses at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. All the while he and Dominic found inspiration with The Piano Guy’s YouTube videos. A favorite was the duo as dueling cellists battling out the “Theme from Star Wars,” their bows morphing into light sabers.

In 2017, the Perezes, drawn to the culture and the beauty of the Lowcountry relocated to Hilton Head. “The coast has so much to offer. You really feel things related to art here,” says Omar who grew up in Miami.

To Read More About Dylan's Cello Studies on Hilton Head Island Click Here

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(l-r): Andrew Youngerman & Jonathan Holtzman, Photography by TR Media World

"Amadeus" Opens this Week

Music. Jealousy. Power.

Amadeus by Peter Shaffer winner of 5 Tony Awards including Best Play opens at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a rowdy young prodigy, arrives in Vienna, the music capital of the world – and he’s determined to make a splash. Awestruck by his genius, court composer Antonio Salieri has the power to promote Mozart's talent or destroy his reputation. Seized by obsessive jealousy he begins a war with Mozart, with music, and ultimately, with God. 

Now - October 21, 2018 at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina 

Tickets Online Here

History Day

Hilton Head Island History Day is Back!

Join us by bicycle or trolley on October 13th and discover all of the fascinating history on Hilton Head Island.  Order Tickets Online Here (don't delay the past two years have SOLD OUT!)