|
May 29, 2001
Hello,
Well, I am back from the trip Bulgaria.
It was a wonderful experience and I would
like to share a few thoughts with you
about it.
I was in Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria,
for a week and was treated royally to
a beautiful room at the Radisson in the
heart of the city. I met with Victor Mayer,
the General Manager and Conductor of the
National Youth Symphony Orchestra, to
discuss my Concerto for Jazz Piano and
Orchestra. We talked about some changes
in the score and parts, rehearsal schedules
and preparation for the concert on Friday
evening, May 11 at Bulgaria Hall.
Victor is a young, enthusiastic and talented
conductor who has interests in many types
of music and is eager to expose his orchestra
to such. He is also a deeply religious
man and was anxious to do this concert
for spiritual reasons as well as musical.
Sofia is a beautiful city with cobblestone
streets, little graffiti and is very clean.
Remnants of the Communist era are still
there. You see huge governmental buildings
and numerous monstrous statues in parks
that are intimidating with each one pointing
toward the Socialist worker and his plight.
I found them all to be foreboding and
incredibly depressing. The Communist regime
was overthrown in 1989 with the party
leaders absconding with some 50 billion
dollars of the country's money, leaving
the people with little. However, the people
are turning things around and their spirits
are
high and I feel they will succeed. I was
very impressed with the people in general.
The Prima Agency and their artist representative,
Martin Stoyanov, had arranged for several
radio and TV interviews to promote the
concert. This turned out to be an unusual
experience. The radio and TV interviewers
were all interested in Desert Spirit,
the name of the concerto. I explained
that the concept for the piece came from
the parable of the Prodigal Son and how
each of us must pass through a desert
type of spiritual experience before we
can be in communion with God. The people
seemed eager to hear more. So, here I
was, on national TV, talking about my
faith and how my music is integrated with
it. It is not difficult to understand,
since this is a nation that has had to
endure repressed religious expression.
The concert was successful with about 700
people in attendance. The orchestra played
very well and I know they enjoyed playing
this music. Several of the musicians indicated
interest in coming to the USA and
possibly even studying at ASU. I got to
visit many beautiful churches there, some
dating back to the 2nd
century. Martin took me to the Rila Monastery,
an 11th century monastery that is still
active. I had an epiphany experience in
the church sanctuary. The Orthodox religion
uses religious icons as an important part
of their prayer rituals. At the center
of every Orthodox church is the Iconostasis.
The Iconostasis at the Rila Monastery
has thousands of icons and frescos. Standing
there for just a brief minute, it occurred
to me that there must be a time when the
monks are at prayer when these icons come
to life. I saw, just for a brief moment,
a glimpse of this extraordinary vision
and it was breath taking.
So, after much meditation and prayer about
why I was to go on this trip, I came up
with the following: Was it about going
to such a place to play and talk about
my love for the Lord or was I supposed
to go to this place to encounter God and
some of the history of his church to somehow
bring this back to share with others at
home and for future musical inspiration?
I think it was probably meant to be both.
What do you think?
God blessing to all of you -
|
