A man of many talents, U.S. figure skater/ice dancer Charlie White fulfilled a long-standing promise he made to the Today show to play the violin on-air if he won gold at the Sochi Olympics.
White showed up on Today earlier this week, fiddle in hand. He played the opening bars of Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in A minor, ably, to enthusiastic applause from Al Roker, the crew and his beloved skating partner, Meryl Davis.
Davis and White won couples ice dancing on Monday during an extremely competitive contest in which they had to follow defending champions Virtue and Moir--who skated a virtually flawless program--and the ballet-influenced extravaganza presented by the Russian team of Ilinykh and Katsalapov. (Clearly, the audience favorite.)
Following these two acts seemed like an impossible feat. Indeed, the tension was high as Davis and White took the ice. But the two skated a mesmerizing program to the strains of Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade to win their gold medals.
Certainly, White knows a thing or two about performing under pressure. Yet, he says he may have been even more apprehensive about playing Vivaldi live on Today.
"I think maybe I was more nervous for that. It's been a solid three years since I've played the violin," he said, laughing.
Not bad, really, for someone who hasn't touched the violin in so long.
And we at Classicalite have to ask: How did he even find time to learn the instrument during the 17 years he has been in intensive training with Davis?
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