In my lifetime, I’ve seen Bob Dylan croon Like a Rolling Stone, The Rolling Stones bump n’ grind to Brown Sugar, The Police turn out the red light with Roxanne, The Moody Blues perform Nights in White Satin, Neil Young singing Heart of Gold, Glen Campbell singing Wichita Lineman, Elton John trying to remember if they were green or blue in Your Song, Rare Earth mining the song Get Ready, Yes unleashing Roundabout, Neil Diamond bah, bah, bah Sweet Caroline, Gordon Lightfoot performing If You Could Read My Mind, J. Geils Band singing Give It To Me, Rod Stewart and the Faces drinking their way through Stay With Me, Van Halen wailing Ain’t Talking Bout Love, Bon Jovi Living On A Prayer, Alice Cooper singing I’m Eighteen, Paul Anka beseeching Diana to stay with him, Billy Idol punching his fists to Rebel Yell, Tony Bennett performing I Left My Heart In San Francisco, Eric Clapton playing Layla, Eric Burdon and the Animals doing House of the Rising Sun, The New York Dolls talking bout Trash, The B52’s grooving to Love Shack, Kiss shouting I Wanna Rock n’ Roll All Night, and I’ve stood in the Preservation Hall, the venerable music venue located in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, and watched The Preservation Hall Jazz Band play some spine tingling jazz, along with many more artists too numerous to mention who it could be said were at the top of their game.
Tonight, however, my wife and I were privileged to witness an unaccompanied live performance from a man sitting on a chair and cradling a cello in his arms. His instrument, named “Petunia”, is a vintage 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice. The cellist performing some musical selections of J.S.Bach at the Chan Centre for The Performing Arts this night was the incomparable Yo-Yo Ma, a French-born American cellist and winner of multiple Grammy Awards. It has been said that greatness comes in many forms. On this evening, Kathryn and I experienced greatness from the eighth row in a magnificent theatre. Transcendent bliss!
