Building Relationships

A new entry in my gallery shows a picture of myself and the amazing virtuoso violinist Nathan Meltzer whose concert I attended on Sunday afternoon. Nathan is already an established artist having won many competitions and studies under the incomparable Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. We are about the same age with Nathan being a sophomore at Julliard and me a freshman at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. We have been friends on Facebook for some time and it has always been on my agenda for us to meet, and so when the Grier Family arranged for him to play with the Charlotte Civic Orchestra on Sunday March 8th it was a no-brainer for me to travel from Greensboro to hear him play. His magnificent interpretation of the Brahms Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was so inspiring that after the 90 mile trip back to Greensboro I went right to the piano for several hours of practice even though it was my day off!

” we should attend each other’s concerts, enjoy building relationships over the internet with the hope of someday meeting and collaborating even if we live on different continents “

Meeting Nathan and his parents was just as inspiring; like me here is a fellow traveler who has decided to make music a big part of his life. This is why I think that it is so important for musicians of our generation to support each other as we are all endeavoring to preserve these wonderful traditions and pass them to the next generation as they are being passed down by the Greats to us. And so we should attend each other’s concerts, enjoy building relationships over the internet with the hope of someday meeting and collaborating even if we live on different continents (Hey Lucilla Rose Mariotti!) and like Nathan approach our art with the humility virtuosity that endears our hearers not only to the music but to us as well. That way all aspects of who we are—our skill as musicians and the love we radiate—will bring joy and happiness into the lives of others. After all isn’t that what it’s all about?