Strung Along
2 / JANUARY 2022 PRIME
Local woman celebrates more than 50 years with the Bozeman Symphony By Hannah Stiff
S
haron Eversman has been playing the violin for more than 60 years. She’s been a staple of the Bozeman Symphony since its inception in the 1960s. There was a decade of her life where she gave up the violin, having burned out from playing both the stringed instrument and the piano all throughout her school days. “I went to college, got married, and then my daughter was born, and I didn’t play for 10 years,” Eversman explained. But when Eversman returned to the violin as a young woman, she said it was akin to riding a bike. She was a bit wobbly at first, and then the familiar motion returned. “It came back slowly,” Eversman said. “I had a firm foundation after taking lessons from about age 8 to 17.” And since her bow met her violin
a second time, Eversman has been delighting patrons of the Bozeman Symphony with her music. Through the decades since she started playing again, crowd sizes have grown, performers have come and gone, and the symphony has adapted to the times, offering streamed performances for online audiences. In 2022, Eversman will celebrate two exciting musical milestones. “My violin will be 100 years old in 2022,” Eversman explains. “My joints are wearing out, but I’m going to play that violin in 2022.” Th new year also heralds Eversman’s 55th year playing violin in Bozeman. Her violin was purchased by her parents in Iowa City, Iowa, from a traveling violin salesman. The company salesman was from Ernst Heinrich Roth, a renowned German luthier and violin company. “I grew up in Iowa City,” Eversman said. “There was a strong music, art and drama community. My mother started me on piano when I was about 5. She wanted me to learn hymns and Christmas carols. I started violin at 8 or 9. I followed my friends to the violin and the rest is history.” In college, Eversman fell in love with an art major named Tom. The pair wed and eventually added two children to their family. From Iowa,
