【HSC--美隊】 Like a spring breeze in the winter, from Russia

It's late February. The spring is almost around the corner. But some two years ago it was very much different. The winter seemed endless, and the Washington, DC area was repeatedly pounded by snow storm after snow storm. February 14 was no different as weather was concerned. Heavy snow started falling late in the afternoon, again. In the evening we drove out from home, despite so many weather advisories and state-of-emergency announcements, to the Music Center at Strathmore, where the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra was to perform a concert. The concert hall was respectably filled.  So many music enthusiasts failed to resist the charm and attraction of a great orchestras and ventured out in almost forbidding weather. The concert was cut short because of road safety concerns. The opening“Barber of Seville" overture was dropped, the intermission was removed, and the concert became an all-Russian affair. 
The soloist in the opening Prokofiev violin concerto was 31 year old Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji, a new face to me. She delivered a superb performance with brilliant skills and composure. Then came the large piece , Rachmaninoff second symphony. With velvet like lush sound, flawless orchestration, Rachmaninoff's romantically beautiful melodies flowed like clouds from the stage and filled the hall. My ears luxuriated in tactile, simple aural pleasures, and my heart felt warm spring. Just then I realized why the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra was considered the "national treasure of Russia", and conductor Yuri Temirkanov one of the best in the world.  Thank you, wonderful musicians from Russia, for a most memorable spring like evening in the winter.

violinist Sayaka Shoji                             conductor  Yuri Temirkanov