Lasing Timothy Muffitt,

https://www.timothymuffitt.com/comings-and-goings

 

https://www.chq.org/festival-schools/school-of-music/conducting-fellowship/

 

March 4, 2024
 
The music world is blessed with many truly wonderful performing artists, musicians who have total command of their instrument and a real gift for making a piece of music speak to an audience in a special way. Today, there are more people in that category than ever before.
 
Within that category, however, there are but a few who create an experience that transcends the purely musical.  One person who comes to mind in this category is Lang Lang. Lang Lang is an extraordinary musician and pianist who has a decidedly outsized impact on an audience. Anyone who has witnessed this live, first-hand, will know of what I speak. As I write this, Elvis comes to mind as a comparison. I have never seen an audience so enthralled with the raw charisma and talent of a classical musician.  His concerts are unforgettable.
 
Saturday night, those of us in Baton Rouge’s River Center Theater for the Baton Rouge Symphony’s Pennington Great Performers in Concert 2024 installment experienced one of the other members of this most rarified club. I had an especially good seat, btw….standing, actually.

I’m referring to Yo Yo Ma. Yo Yo is the most famous classical musician alive today. Of classical musicians whose names are household words, he is in the most households, probably by a long shot.
 
Yo Yo’s secret sauce is humanity, which he exudes from every pore. Whether it is in a one-on-one conversation, or a small group of people backstage, or a concert hall full of 2000 people, we all feel the same thing: Yo Yo is singularly focused on us. Whomever it may be in that moment, that is where his focus unflinchingly lies.
 
When he walks on stage, every person in the hall feels him connect with them individually. He is there to play for you, and if there were just one of you in the hall, he would give everything he has for you.
 
His interactions with the other musicians on stage is really something to be experienced. He connects with every player on that stage, even those behind him….not sure how that happens, but it does.
 
Backstage before the dress rehearsal, does he sequester himself in his dressing room? No, he makes a point to have meaningful contact with as many of the orchestral musicians as possible. You feel like his best friend in the moment you are with him. Is it fake? contrived? A put-on? No. It’s just who this guy is, a lovely human being.
 
Great music making is about a connection with the listener. It’s about taking ink spots on the page that represent a composer’s inspiration and turning them into something that resonates at the emotional core of the listener. Much of that is simply how we play, but then there is the “je ne sais quoi” of an artist like Yo Yo. (sorry…I know that's super pretentious to drop that in here, but it kinda works). I think it comes back to the humanity, and the bandwidth of his humanity. It’s just bigger than what most of us mortals have. We can be inspired by it. We can try to emulate it, but there is no duplicating it.
 
Oh, and he plays the cello very well too.

On a personal note, it was such a joy to be back with my friends in Baton Rouge, both on stage and off. I miss you all and look forward to our next time together.