This past Saturday, my wife enjoyed a wonderful evening at the Taft Theatre Cincinnati hearing the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with Gil Shaham as soloist. Shaham performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and the orchestra performed Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No.1 and Dvorak's Symphony No. 7. Megan bought me these tickets for my birthday last month, but I had no idea how much I needed that night until the orchestra started playing.
The orchestra opened the concert with the Peer Gynt Suite, and within the first several measures, I found tears welling up in my eyes and coming down my face. I was completely surprised by this. I'm an emotional person, and I have cried during plenty of movies, goodbyes, etc. But I don't remember having quite this kind of response to music before. As I thought about it, there were a couple things that came to my mind.
First, the CSO is an AMAZING group of musicians. The sound of the string section (despite my efforts, this is where my eyes and ears almost always are) was so incredibly warm, full, rich, and in tune. That sound just went right to my soul and mended brokenness that I didn't even know was there. The brass, wind, and percussion sections were equally incredible, and it was such a joy to get to experience music being made a such a high level.
Second, this evening certainly brought back found memories of my time with the Pensacola and Northwest Florida Symphonies. Of course, we were not at the same level as this group, but I did get to play some incredible music with amazing colleagues. There is nothing quite like experiencing that sound on stage and making incredible music with that many other people. I know I am where I'm supposed to be right now, so I am okay with having to give that up to be here. However, I would certainly love to be able to do that again someday. If nothing else, Saturday night gave me some incentive to not let my viola playing fall by the wayside in the busyness of my piano activities.
Last, I thought about how much our society, our civilization, needs this kind of music and these kinds of performers. I am one hundred percent in support of diversity in music, but I truly believe that the type of music I heard on Saturday has the power to speak, comfort, and heal anyone who will listen. If you have a symphony in your area, attend their concerts and consider supporting them financially. If there are some young musicians in your life, encourage them to keep pursuing it, to become as good as they can be, and to not give up. They may just grow up and be the next one to mend your soul when it is broken.
The orchestra opened the concert with the Peer Gynt Suite, and within the first several measures, I found tears welling up in my eyes and coming down my face. I was completely surprised by this. I'm an emotional person, and I have cried during plenty of movies, goodbyes, etc. But I don't remember having quite this kind of response to music before. As I thought about it, there were a couple things that came to my mind.
First, the CSO is an AMAZING group of musicians. The sound of the string section (despite my efforts, this is where my eyes and ears almost always are) was so incredibly warm, full, rich, and in tune. That sound just went right to my soul and mended brokenness that I didn't even know was there. The brass, wind, and percussion sections were equally incredible, and it was such a joy to get to experience music being made a such a high level.
Second, this evening certainly brought back found memories of my time with the Pensacola and Northwest Florida Symphonies. Of course, we were not at the same level as this group, but I did get to play some incredible music with amazing colleagues. There is nothing quite like experiencing that sound on stage and making incredible music with that many other people. I know I am where I'm supposed to be right now, so I am okay with having to give that up to be here. However, I would certainly love to be able to do that again someday. If nothing else, Saturday night gave me some incentive to not let my viola playing fall by the wayside in the busyness of my piano activities.
Last, I thought about how much our society, our civilization, needs this kind of music and these kinds of performers. I am one hundred percent in support of diversity in music, but I truly believe that the type of music I heard on Saturday has the power to speak, comfort, and heal anyone who will listen. If you have a symphony in your area, attend their concerts and consider supporting them financially. If there are some young musicians in your life, encourage them to keep pursuing it, to become as good as they can be, and to not give up. They may just grow up and be the next one to mend your soul when it is broken.