BIG Concert Outing: Perlman, Ma and Ax

"Life and art are not two different things."

--Felix Mendelssohn--

"The world falls in love with music when Itzhak Perlman takes up his violin."

--From the Kennedy Center biography of Perlman--

Last Monday night on March 30th, Mom and I saw Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax in concert performing the music of Felix Mendelssohn.  The program, which honored the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn's birth included Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 and Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66.

That night marked the first time these three artists performed together as part of a piano trio and was the first of only two performances (the other was to be performed the following evening in Carnegie Hall) by the trio.  The performance here was probably their dress rehearsal!  At the end of their performance they were each presented the 2009 Institute for the Arts and Humanities Medal by the president of the university.

This is the third performance I have been to at this venue in the past year.  The first performance, as some of you may remember was when I saw Itzhak Perlman perform with Rohan de Silva on April 1st last year. Then, I saw (and met!) Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

This last concert with Perlman, Ma and Ax was, of course, AMAZING! I had to keep my jaw from dropping to the floor. They are phenomenal musicians and performers. And they are also very animated and fun to watch. Ma and Perlman have especially good senses of humor. It was a true gift to be in the presence of the three of them together and to hear them perform live.

Also this time around I had a perfect view of the three of them. My reclining chair was up on a platform. Princess seating! Lisa, the audience services manager, set it up for me this way at the Wynton concert and it worked perfectly. When I went to the first Perlman concert, I mostly listened as I couldn't see over the heads in front of me when I was in the reclining chair.

Yo Yo Ma is committed to creating peace through music and education. When I was listening to music performed live by these great artists, I was able to feel a bit of peace within me. And that is where peace begins.

I was remembering back to the last time I went to a performance before 2008 and I think it was in 1998 soon after I first became sick. I do not remember the name of the musical. I just remember that it was a fun, upbeat performance in which one of the performers had the loooowest voice I had ever heard. But I also remember sitting upright in the seat, not knowing why I felt so sick, feeling short of breath, struggling to get a deep breath, feeling tired and weak but still thinking whatever was wrong was a passing 'bug' and still trying to do everything I would 'normally' do. 

I grew up going to so many performances in this venue. And to think I didn't go for almost ten years really puts things into perspective. Now I can say I have gone three times in the past year! 

I may be doing it a bit differently than I did in the past. But going back to this venue feels a bit like reclaiming a part of the old me that I don't want to lose. When I look at the stage and the seats in front of me I am wrapped in memories of great performances that I have seen and hopeful about the new ones I will see. 

And that is reason for applause!  So I will close with this quote from Emanuel Ax. 

"I really hope we can go back to the feeling that applause should be an emotional response to the music, rather than a regulated social duty." 

--Emanuel Ax on his blog

And did the audience ever applaud based on an emotional level! They applauded in between every movement of the piano trios. Oops!!! At least it was out of joy and appreciation!

Blessings,

Emily

Photo:  View from my princess seat. That's the guy tuning the piano before the concert. I wouldn't want to be him!