Man in Motion

Maestro Donato Cabrera conducting the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

Last night we enjoyed a sublime evening of music at the Smith Centre for the Performing Arts here in Las Vegas. The added pleasure was watching Maestro Cabrera painting the music in the air with his baton, thrusting, smoothing, coaxing as he directed the Las Vegas Philharmonic in exhilarating performances of John Adams’ The Chairman Dances, Foxtrot for Orchestra and Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony.

The concert was made even more memorable by the guest soloist, the brilliant pianist Joyce Yang, winner of the Silver Medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2005, playing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Her exquisite performance brought us all to our feet, applauding, cheering and shouting Bravo, Bravo, adding to a night full of both motion and emotion. In the pre-concert discussion with the audience she gave away the secret to her genius: fifteen to twenty hours of practice to learn one minute of music.

After the concert was over Miss Yang greeted everyone in the foyer and graciously signed our CD’s. Two more treasures to take home tonight after ten spectacular days, as we say our farewells to family and return to Vancouver.