Hilary Hahn has played solo Bach every single day since she was eight years old. This episode follows the American violinist, born in Virginia in 1979 and raised around Baltimore, from Suzuki-method lessons just before her fourth birthday, to admission to the Curtis Institute of Music at age 10, to her deliberate choice to stay at the conservatory for three extra years after finishing her requirements at 16, studying chamber music and spending four summers learning German, French and Japanese at Middlebury College.

The episode explores how that bulletproof classical foundation freed her to take risks: commissioning concertos from Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon, the Grammy-winning In 27 Pieces encores project with a crowdsourced 27th piece chosen from over 400 entries, the fully improvised Silfra album with Hauschka, tracks with ...And You  ...