Sagacious Onlooker

For the second time this summer I was fortunate enough to see Yo-Yo Ma, king among cellists, live in concert. He performed with the Silk Road Ensemble which is a group he began to explore the historical melodies of Asia. It was announced at the beginning of the performance that the group is currently celebrating its tenth anniversary, and I then realized that in the coming months will also be the tenth anniversary of my cello playing too.

The performance at Blossom Music Center last night was outstanding and clearly featured experienced musicians on each instrument. The mix of instruments itself was eclectic, ranging from strings to bagpipes to the sheng. The first half of the concert featured the whole group playing some enjoyable melodies with composers ranging from the third century to the twentieth century. After the intermission began some chamber music. First a string quartet performed with drum accompaniment then there was a percussion quartet that featured fun improvisation based on classic Asian rhythms. The finale piece featured the whole group yet again, then an organized encore began after the jubilant applause of the audience. The fun started after the first encore, because the sheng player began an improvised melody that was joined by a drummer, then eventually by the bagpiper that morphed into what can only be described as an international jam session, eventually turning into a Galician carol from one of their albums featuring the whole group. Overall, it was quite an amazing experience.