I was born in Baghdad, Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. I grew up when the country was still unstable after the Kuwait war, and everyone lived in fear of future conflict and turmoil. My family tried to keep as much normalcy in daily life as was possible during this time. My mom was a seamstress and my father was an electrician. My older brother was in school and played the piano.
I first picked up the violin at age 16, an age when many serious musicians are already on their way to winning competitions and entering college conservatories. I had been struggling with academics in middle school, and my parents enrolled me in the Institute of Fine Arts to give me a creative outlet. The commute to the Institute took 90 minutes on 3 different buses, so we picked the violin because it was easy to carry around the city. The war in 2003 crippled Iraq’s economy and education system, and many musicians and artists were fleeing the country in search of safety and stable work. Each day that I traveled to the Institute, there was no escaping the fear of death – an explosion or shootout could occur at any moment. Despite this fear, my love for the violin grew, and I continued to risk dangerous trips to the other side of Baghdad for my first private lessons.
Perhaps the best experience I had in Baghdad was when I played for the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra. During my second year, we were invited to play alongside the National Symphony Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In 2006, after playing for the symphony for 5 years, I moved to Amman, Jordan to attend the Jordanian Conservatory. Because so many Iraqis had fled Baghdad, it was difficult for me to gain residency in Jordan. Luckily, I knew several professors from my time in Baghdad, who helped me obtain a work-study scholarship. While at the conservatory, I studied violin intensively for two years before coming to the United States.
I moved to Oregon in 2008, and I struggled to adapt to the different culture and pace of life. Realizing how far I was behind other music students, I enrolled in community college and began considering career alternatives. In this state of isolation and loneliness, I began playing the violin again with the orchestra at Lane Community College, and I began to rediscover the joy of making music. Tuning my strings on stage with the rest of the orchestra, I felt a deep sense of belonging that had been missing since leaving home and my previous life as a musician. I imagined I could continue playing the violin as a hobby, but after three years, my passion for music was undeniable and I knew I had to make it my life’s focus.
My first teacher at the University of Oregon, Kathryn Lucktenberg, had a quote outside of her office that said, “If I follow my gut and work harder than everyone else, it will pay off.” It seemed written for me, because I realized how hard I would need to work to catch up to the other music students. I put this quote on my bedroom wall to read every morning before leaving for school to practice, to push past the doubts and negative voices in my head and remind myself that my dream could be achievable with commitment and hard work.
I am very thankful for Kathryn’s dedication to teaching me. She has been the most special, compassionate, and loving person I have ever met. I do not think I would have made it this far without her support. She very quickly became my mentor, family and a tremendous influence in my life.
During my time at the University of Oregon, I won the concertmaster audition to play Scheherazade and was invited to play in masterclasses with visiting artists. These were early signs that I was on the right path. I finished my master’s degree in violin performance in Winter of 2018. Today, I am a member of the Eugene Concert Choir, Oregon Mozart Players, and the Eugene Symphony. To be able to share the gift of music is a privilege, however, I also want to share my journey and my message: you can do anything if you love it enough.
Bashar Matti 