I went to the final concert of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert season last night. What a great night – guest soloist James Ehnes was splendid, playing Beethoven. He filled Hamilton Place with beautiful threads of sounds, woven around the hall. It really felt as though we were entangled in a web of sound that brought with it a flood of thoughts and memories. His music was a bit of a revelation for me.
I have found that great musical performances open paths for you through the confusion forest of your thoughts – somehow lighting the way through the dark branches over to a place where you sense that a though a solution lies somewhere near for you to find. I think that for me, that is the purpose of art… to lead us to a new place of inspiration and discovery. Indeed, when we rarely meet someone who inspires us, that is what they do for us: they open a window in our mind that lets us transcend ourselves and achieve beyond what we imagined possible for ourselves before.
This has been quite the academic and professional year for me, full of extraordinary trials and challenges. This concert was an interesting, reflective part of its end… Come July a new year begins. Only June to go…