Last night we were at the Music Center at Strathmore again, after a short one month and nine days. The memories of 15 year old Jackie Evancho's vocal concert were still fresh. This time 35 year old Baltimore native Hilary Hahn was there to perform Dvorak's violin concerto with the Baltimore Symphony which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. About 20 years ago I saw/listened to Hilary Hahn in a concert for the first time. She was a young 15 year old rising star then. She performed Mendelssohn's violin concerto with the Pittsburg Symphony which was turning 100 years old that year. It was an interesting combination of beauty and age, youthful energy/enthusiasm and experience/maturity. Now 20 years later, in another 100th anniversary celebration of a great symphony orchestra, she was just as energetic, but with deeper passion and more expansive music interpretations. The performance was superb, and I think that I will remember it for years to come, just as I have remembered the one 20 years ago. However I am not so sure about it because I don't remember much of her solo performance I went to just a few years ago. I can recall that my eye sight was so poor that her figure on the stage looked very blurry. I asked my youngest daughter (then 15 years old) who was with me at the concert repeatedly "can you really see the movements of her fingers?", and every time she answered simply "yes, very clearly". Maybe I should stop worrying about how much I will remember last night's concert in the future. We had a great time. That's good enough.
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