Julia Fischer

OK, I'm in love.

Saw Julia Fischer in concert with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center Thursday night. The Kennedy Center is the premiere performing arts venue in the D.C. area. I used to perform there many years ago when I sang with the Paul Hill Chorale.




[One of the Immutable Laws of the Cosmos: Wherever I sit in a theater, the seat directly in front of me will subsequently be occupied by either a behemoth with a neck like a small sequoia or a woman with b-i-i-i-i-g hair. This time it was the former. At my eye level was his fifth cervical vertebra, obliterating the entire violin section. I could hear the Cosmos chuckle. Again.]

It was an evening of Eastern European music. The NSO performed Rimsky-Korsakoff's Easter Overture and Dvorák's 9th. Then Julia played the Khachaturian Concerto. She has a mesmerizing stage presence. Her body movement, facial expressions and command of the bow make her music almost painfully beautiful to hear. Several times during her lyrical reading of the slow second movement, I noticed that I wasn't breathing.

Yes, it was that kind of magic.