You’ve heard about my adventures in getting home from an Antwerp concert but you haven’t heard about the concert itself.

Stjepan Hauser is a Croatian cellist who is shaking up the instrument. I too am a cellist … and I want to play with passion. Hauser teaches me.

He strode onstage, looking impossibly sexy. His shirt was unbuttoned one extra spot, showing a hairy chest. He walked with a swagger. He pointed with his bow to us the audience after most of the pieces.

At one point early on, he said “This next one is a love song. You ladies in the audience will like it … See you later.”

Yuck. Too much male ego for me.

The small orchestra behind Hauser (women and men) seemed to be gushing over the cellist at every turn. I didn’t gush.

So there I was, leaning away from the person and leading towards the music. For the music was grand. I flew with My Heart Will Go On from Titanic. And then Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

Do I stay grumpy about this macho man or let go into the overflowing experience?

I let go.

And I was taken. Stjepan loved playing the cello. He loved playing the melodies that move us … and feeling the fullness of the violins behind him.

I too loved. Whatever skill level I reach on the cello, I vow to sway with the music, to smash my fingers down on the strings, to let the bow speak.

Later in the performance, Hauser donned a harness that allowed him to play his transparent instrument while standing and walking. Sometimes he bounced while still loving the bow and strings. He toured the lower part of the hall in the middle of a tune, audience members leaning forward to touch him.

And then there was the soaring theme from Pirates of the Caribbean, with a video of Hauser dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, playing in sync with the man onstage. Woh!

***

Okay … I give up my opinion

I loved the show

I love the cello