NEWS FLASH: Below you’ll find a post which I wrote on my phone today. I was sitting in a bar writing and talking to folks at the next table. Then someone started yelling at us. Five minutes later I realized he’d stolen my phone!

Yuck. I’ll use this laptop tomorrow to tell you more.

***

Yesterday I was at an Evolutionary Collective retreat on Zoom. It lasted from 5:00 pm till midnight. Most of our members are in North America so the times are more friendly over there.

I had a responsibility to be at the meeting. The timing, however, was bad. Today at 2:00 pm Belgian time, I sat down in Wigmore Hall in London, England. I was going to see and hear Maria Duenas from Spain, one of the world’s most brilliant violinists.

So it was a late night and early morning in Ghent. Two trains and a lot of walking later, I was sitting dead centre in the fourth row.

Maria came onstage wearing a gorgeous cream dress that touched the floor. The fellow accompanying her on the piano wore black. Three violin sonatas – by Beethoven, Schubert and Debussy – filled the afternoon. And Maria animated every minute.

She threw her head and body around. Sometimes she ended a musical phrase with a giant upbow, the tip of the bow finishing up way above her head. There were fierce passages with her fingers moving on the strings at the speed of light. And tender flowings that lifted our hearts to the sky.

I was in awe … and often on the edge of sleep. So what? I had signed for both the EC and Maria. It was time to suck it up.

There were moments when it seemed Maria was whispering to her violin. During others she was blowing it a kiss.

What a privilege to be in the audience. As the last note of the concert hung in the air, I soared my body and yelled “Bravo!” Magnifique. Strangely, very few of us stood. Was this the stereotypical British reserve? It didn’t matter. Maria’s playing was beyond … everything. And I got to be there.

Here’s a YouTube video of Maria dazzling the world: