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A 2007 Washington Post story told the tale of Joshua Bell, who, on Jan. 12, 2007 took position against a wall in a Washington D.C. Metro station. Dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, baseball cap and in stark contrast to the dingy pedestrian metro station, he sported a Stradivarius violin valued at $3.5 million. He began playing “Chaconne” from Johann Sebastian Bach's Partia No. 2 in D minor. “Chaconne” has long been regarded as one of the most difficult violin pieces to master, few do, yet this “street musician” played this impossible 14-minute piece and 5 more to perfection. Forty-five minutes later his violin case contained $32.17 in donations. In all 1,097 people passed by, seven having paused longer than 60 seconds and of the seven only one recognized him as the virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell.
On Feb. 12, my family had the distinct pleasure of experiencing the music of two extraordinary accomplished Musicians at McPherson's exquisite Opera House. Nina Perlove (flutist) and Eric Himys' (pianist) performance entitled Per L’Amour Duo (for love's sake) was stunning. Listening to these two internationally renown musicians in a half full (half empty for the pessimists in our midst) opera house I couldn't help but draw parallels to the Joshua Bell story. I wondered if some had assumed incredible talent such as this would never waste their time in a small country community such as ours. Listening to the precision, control and artistry, I was enthralled by their excellence and fascinated by the different texture of sounds they produce with their instruments.
I am not a music critic so I am not going to use a lot of descriptive highfalutin words, but I know excellence when I see/hear it. The music was all the more sweet when one considers they could be at Carnegie or wherever they chose. Yet, they chose to share it with us. Their presence in McPherson, as well as their performance, offers us a glimpse into their souls. I can only conclude they are more interested in sharing their gifts with appreciative audiences than performances at Carnegie, fame or money.
I have been guilty of not supporting the arts in McPherson as much as I should (for those thinking of soliciting funds I am not feeling that bad) and I left the opera house that evening with conflicted emotions. I was thankful and appreciative that two such professional and accomplished musicians chose to share their talents with our community but sad some did not have the opportunity to experience this event for themselves.
As usual there are two sides to every story. The economy is depressed and people are struggling just to make ends meet. For many, the idea of spending $25 to $30 per ticket is not even a consideration. I am not going to pretend to have a solution to this problem. However, I hope as a community we can work together to find solutions and support the opera house particularly with events such as this. I will make one final observation. I only saw a few people under the age of 18. I am also aware there were other events (home coming etc.) but I wonder if there couldn't have been some way for high school students and college students, interested in music, to attend either through sponsorship or at a significantly reduced cost. At least the opera house would have been full and the students would have had the opportunity to witness for themselves a world class music performance. I hope that if Ms. Perlove or Mr. Himy choose to return to our community that we can fill the opera house and all of us (including myself) can pause for longer than 60 seconds to listen to the masters.
A 2007 Washington Post story told the tale of Joshua Bell, who, on Jan. 12, 2007 took position against a wall in a Washington D.C. Metro station. Dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, baseball cap and in stark contrast to the dingy pedestrian metro station, he sported a Stradivarius violin valued at $3.5 million. He began playing “Chaconne” from Johann Sebastian Bach's Partia No. 2 in D minor. “Chaconne” has long been regarded as one of the most difficult violin pieces to master, few do, yet this “street musician” played this impossible 14-minute piece and 5 more to perfection. Forty-five minutes later his violin case contained $32.17 in donations. In all 1,097 people passed by, seven having paused longer than 60 seconds and of the seven only one recognized him as the virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell.
On Feb. 12, my family had the distinct pleasure of experiencing the music of two extraordinary accomplished Musicians at McPherson's exquisite Opera House. Nina Perlove (flutist) and Eric Himys' (pianist) performance entitled Per L’Amour Duo (for love's sake) was stunning. Listening to these two internationally renown musicians in a half full (half empty for the pessimists in our midst) opera house I couldn't help but draw parallels to the Joshua Bell story. I wondered if some had assumed incredible talent such as this would never waste their time in a small country community such as ours. Listening to the precision, control and artistry, I was enthralled by their excellence and fascinated by the different texture of sounds they produce with their instruments.
I am not a music critic so I am not going to use a lot of descriptive highfalutin words, but I know excellence when I see/hear it. The music was all the more sweet when one considers they could be at Carnegie or wherever they chose. Yet, they chose to share it with us. Their presence in McPherson, as well as their performance, offers us a glimpse into their souls. I can only conclude they are more interested in sharing their gifts with appreciative audiences than performances at Carnegie, fame or money.
I have been guilty of not supporting the arts in McPherson as much as I should (for those thinking of soliciting funds I am not feeling that bad) and I left the opera house that evening with conflicted emotions. I was thankful and appreciative that two such professional and accomplished musicians chose to share their talents with our community but sad some did not have the opportunity to experience this event for themselves.
As usual there are two sides to every story. The economy is depressed and people are struggling just to make ends meet. For many, the idea of spending $25 to $30 per ticket is not even a consideration. I am not going to pretend to have a solution to this problem. However, I hope as a community we can work together to find solutions and support the opera house particularly with events such as this. I will make one final observation. I only saw a few people under the age of 18. I am also aware there were other events (home coming etc.) but I wonder if there couldn't have been some way for high school students and college students, interested in music, to attend either through sponsorship or at a significantly reduced cost. At least the opera house would have been full and the students would have had the opportunity to witness for themselves a world class music performance. I hope that if Ms. Perlove or Mr. Himy choose to return to our community that we can fill the opera house and all of us (including myself) can pause for longer than 60 seconds to listen to the masters.
