Witnessing Something Great

Being in the presence of greatness is much like being in love. You've realized that you've forgotten how wonderful of an experience it is. If you need to think about it, then it's not great. I have been fortunate enough to witness this twice in the last few months. Baryshnikov came here to do an absolutely enchanting show about Christmas in the Stalinist times. It was a combination of dance and theatre. I was awestruck by the sheer beauty of it all. A couple of days ago, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic came here to perform along with Yuri Temirkanov - one of the best orchestras in the world and one of the best conductors of the world here in Champaign-Urbana. I had since forgotten what an orchestra's supposed to sound like. Having just conducted the night before in the same hall, I got a quick dose of reality in terms of how much farther I need to grow. We had another concert. All of us were inspired by the St. Petersburg band but, alas, the inspiration did not yield a great performance.