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Sam Weiser is a very special violinist who gets to play a very special violin. The 15-year-old was recently awarded the 2008 Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, named for the Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped and killed by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.

"Danny Pearl was actually a musician and I think it's something that most people don't know he was a violin player and definitely multi-genred," Weiser said. "He played classical but also played alternative strings and he actually started as a music writer for the Wall Street Journal. And so when he died there was a violin maker up in Maine, John Cooper and he just felt very inspired by Danny's story and built the violin."

The Daniel Pearl Foundation awards the violin to a young player each year. The night Sam was given the violin, Doctor and Mrs. Pearl made a rare appearance.

"It was such an honor," Weiser recalled. "I can't say enough about how nice it was to get the violin. It was a great violin and it really made me feel connected to Danny in a way."

That's because like the foundation's namesake, Sam also has very eclectic musical tastes and talents. From folk to rock to jazz and
classic, Weiser loves music's diverse possibilities.

The Connecticut teen has been playing since he was just three years old and is very much a violin prodigy. His debut CD, "Sam I Am" will be released on February 16th. It features everything from bluegrass and folk to classical, jazz and western swing.

During a recent visit to his home in Westport, Connecticut, Weiser played a piece from the new CD written by Carlos Santana.

Weiser said he has felt so strongly about the Daniel Pearl Foundation that he decided to donate the proceeds of his new CD to the organization.

"One of things that came with getting the violin, like I said, was the connection to Danny and I feel like I really took something from his message which is that music is universal language -- that music can connect people that would otherwise would not be connected," Weiser said.

Every Saturday, Sam comes to the Manhattan School of Music, where he is the first violin student to be admitted as double precollege major in jazz and classical music.

To celebrate the release if his new CD, Weiser will be performing at Manhattan's Rockwood Music Hall on February 13th.