Local teen moves to the sound of his own symphony

WASHINGTON - Joshua Coyne isn't like a lot of teenagers you'll meet.

Sure, he's got homework that has to be done, and can bristle when his mom reminds him to do this or that, but the music that streams through his head isn't pop or rap.

It's classical, jazz, or Broadway that gets his attention.

"As far as instrumentalists, I like Regina Carter who's a jazz violinist. I like Yitzhak Perlman, who's a classical violinist and some of my favorite composers are Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak from the late romantic period," he says.

At 16, he's already written the score for a one act play that was performed in Washington, D.C. And he's playing the violin for the musical Jane Eyre, being performed at D.C.'s TheatreLab. That's in between his other projects and a White House visit.

Coyne has more than a decades worth of playing, performing and staging under his belt. He drops words like "colossal" in casual conversation. Coyne is used to surprising people and shattering stereotypes along the way.

"Like especially with the violin. I go in to play a competition or an audition. Often times I'll walk in with my instrument and they'll tell me, 'The jazz auditions are on the other side of the building'. And I mean, you get over it," he says.

As irritating as that can be, it especially leaves Coyne bristling when people are amazed that he's so articulate.

"There's nothing that I hate more. Every single one of my teachers says that! And I'm like, 'Well, so are you, thank you.' "

"The fact that they're looking at me and expecting me to talk in a ridiculous and unintelligent manner is a problem in our own society."

One thing Coyne doesn't like to talk about is how he surprised his doctors. He was adopted as a toddler and before that lived with an abusive foster family. His legs were badly broken and his doctors didn't know if he'd ever walk again.

Now the teenager is sprinting towards success.

"When you're doing something that you enjoy, it doesn't seem like hard work," he says.

But sometimes it is hard work. Coyne practices between two and four hours a day.

His mom, Jane Coyne, says she's been accused of pushing him to reach these lofty goals. But she explains that Joshua had the drive to sing, play and perform all along. As a toddler he was humming along with opera music, and by the age of four, he was playing the violin.

She doesn't worry about Coyne becoming a starving artist.

'When you don't have a plan B, you tend to make Plan A work," she says.

Her son expresses that same confidence.

"I don't really worry about my prospects in the future because I know as a musician, we all admit this right before we go into college that we're gonna have some extremely ridiculously poor times. But I know it's going to be fine. I know it's going to be fine," he says.

You can catch Joshua Coyne live in the Theatre Lab's performance of Jane Eyre. For more information, visit their website.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)