from the blog of william harvey...

this is, like, hilariously awesome...

"The Paganini Caprice Challenge!

Photo: Peter Schaaf. This is how I will feel when donations come in!

Two hundred years ago, the great Italian virtuoso Niccolo Paganini wrote the hardest pieces ever written for the violin: the 24 Caprices.

For twenty-four weeks, I will learn and record one caprice per week. If a total of $500 has been donated to Cultures in Harmony that week, I will post the video to YouTube. When a new video is posted, I'll let you know via the blog, the Facebook group, and Twitter.

If less than $500 is donated in a given week, then the video cannot be posted until the amount is raised, and we'll send out an e-mail reminding everyone to donate so that we can post the next caprice. Please check out the first three caprices at the webpage of the Paganini Caprice Challenge.

This campaign will raise a total of $11,000 for Cultures in Harmony's projects in 2010. Those projects will involve return visits to many of the places where we have conducted successful projects in the past, as well as a new project in Mauritania.

How You Can Help

• Forward the videos of the caprices to all your friends. We want these videos to go viral!


• Donate any amount of money to Cultures in Harmony using the link available on every page of our website. Any amount contributes to the weekly total of $500 per Caprice!


• Sponsor an entire Caprice by donating $500 to Cultures in Harmony! You will receive a CD or DVD of the Caprice you sponsored as well as acknowledgment at the Paganini Caprice Challenge page. Thank you to Mimi Zweig for sponsoring Caprice No. 3. Mimi is Professor of Violin of Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and my beloved teacher during high school and college.


• Volunteer to film, supply the location for, art direct, or act in a Caprice video by contacting us.

I hope to be able to post a new caprice every Sunday to give you a fun video to watch to start off your week. So let's keep the donations coming in, and see if you guys can get me to learn, record, and post all twenty-four caprices!

Check out the videos now, and remember: your donations are tax-deductible."