Yanni Brings Agape, "Love" to Benedum
YANNI: WORLD TOUR 2014August 16, 2014 | 8 p.m. | Benedum Center
by
Good News Reporter, Joanne Quinn-Smith
Yanni GRACED the Benedum Stage last night with his mesmerizing smile and
consummate rapport with the audience who were raucous and appreciative and
never faltered in their unity with the performance. The audience was captivated
as Yanni took the stage and seemed to say, "Excuse me while I make love to
my piano and you can watch and listen as I am accompanied by my 'United
Nations' of musicians."
For those few who do
not know who Yanni is. He is a Greek pianist,
keyboardist, composer and music producer who has spent most of his adult life
in the United States while managing to still travel the world and appear in
such historic places as the Acropolis, the Taj Mahal, China's Forbidden City,
Russia's Kremlin, Puerto Ricco's El Morro Castle and last night, the world famous
Benedum in Pittsburgh, Pa.
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| Yanni photo by Krystal Ann |
I must tell you it is
nothing like sitting in an orchestra seat in a theatre as intimate as the
Benedum which, Yanni mentioned how cool it was to be so close to the audience
and he took full advantage in engaging and interacting with the audience
throughout the evening. At least
fourteen of Yanni's albums have peaked at No. 1 in Billboard's "Top New Age Album" category and two albums (Dare to Dream andIn My Time) received Grammy Award nominations.
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| Yanni photo by Krystal Ann |
The music
is at once uplifting, calming, romantic and often intensely sensual and erotic.
My nephew had not even heard of Yanni when I asked him to attend at the last
minute but became an instant fan coming away from the concert slightly hoarse
from cheering.
My
nephew Josh (an engineering student form WVU) and I immediately zeroed in on
Victor Espinola, the harpist from Asuncion Paraguay. We were
amazed at the octaves that his Paraguayan harp was able to reach with its 36
strings and also excited to discover with research that the harp is Paraguay's
national instrument. His World
Electronic Acoustic Music brings a blend of flamenco and gypsy style to the
music of the Yanni orchestra.
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| Yanni, photo by Whit Padgett. |
From
amusement to the international language of music, Samvel
Yervinyan, Violinist from Yerevan, Armenia clearly knew how to make his instrument
speak and have it understood in any language. He shows all the signs of
beginning his studies at the age of 7 and graduating from Tchaikovsky’s
Music Conservatory, perhaps
inheriting Tchaikovsky's penchant for gypsy melody.
From the bigness reminiscent of Tchaikovsky to the sounds of
the the violin played by the diminutive Mary
Simpson, Violin, Virginia, USA who brings a touch of
bluegrass to Yanni's orchestra. From row
E we could see her constant smile and hear her making her violin smile
also. Her hi-lighted performances were
both energetic and musically endearing.
Other
Hi-lights of the concert:
Yanni
describes this song as something he wrote about the learning that took place
rather than initial reactions like frustration and anger.
Charlie
Adams brought down the house with his drum solo. We weren't timing it but it seemed at least ten
minutes long without a hint of boring the audience. Charlie with his Steeler t-shirt and
"Pittsburgh Coffee" used his high energy stage performance and
stamina in what was probably the best drum solo the audience had ever heard.
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| Yanni, photo by Whit Padgett. |
Played
with the orchestra bathed in red light, you could feel the agape love that
Yanni speaks of in his introduction about his mother knowing about
"healing" love. The music
wraps around you like a mother's arms and encourages the audience to at once
feel loved and excited to be alive.
Santorini
This
rendition is so LARGE that it makes you feel as though something epic is about
to happen not only from the stage but in your life and at times let you
languish in the victory. This piece puts you in the mind of running through
open fields, ascending the mountain and then triumphantly observing the beauty
of the view.
Yanni didn't tell the story but the world knows
he was inspired to help protect giant pandas after he “adopted” a two-month old
panda cub at the Chinese Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in
October 2011. Yanni was the first western artist to be given the honor of
symbolically adopting one of Chengdu’s pandas (a privilege reserved almost
exclusively for nations, rather than personalities). He named the panda
“Santorini” after one of the most beautiful islands in his native Greece.
Lauren Jelencovich joins Yanni for
'Nightingale' with its oriental theme with
her effortless soprano very realistically portraying the song of the
Nightingale which Yanni says has the sweetest song of any bird in the world.
The
concert was just too full of too much to talk about and after this review is
published I will remember more dynamic moments.
I should not neglect to mention
outstanding solos by Jason Carder; Trumpet from Arizona and moments of grandeur from
Yoel Del Sol; Percussion, Cuba and the
duets of Yanni with keyboard player, Ming
Freeman, Taiwan; and also some very unique runs and scales from
Gabriel Vivas, Bass from Caracas Venezuela.
There is just not one musician in the
group who is not a consummate professional and cannot or has not shown brightly
on their own on the international music scene.
I attended the concert under physical duress coming straight from my new
daughter-in-law's bridal shower which I had been preparing for three days. I had told my nephew to nudge me if I fell
asleep. Fat chance! I arrived exhausted and spent and from the
time the orchestra hit the stage began to revitalize. I left like all of the rest of the audience
with a feeling of absolute joy and elation at hearing "art"
personified in music with passion, verve, compassion and style.
Joanne Quinn-Smith, Award winning internet radio broadcaster, blogger, author and internet radio and TV network editor and publisher. Joanne is the owner and CEO, Creative Energy Officer, of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates, a successful Pittsburgh-based marketing company. She is a grandmother and great grandmother, an unlikely trendsetter for online journalism and broadcasting. Joanne is internationally known as the “Get Your Google On” Gal. But better known as Techno Granny™ to over one million accumulated online listeners worldwide. Joanne has created a revolutionary online NEW MEDIA platform in Internet broadcasting, blogging and other social media participation that represents the new second generation of World Wide Web interactions, known in technology circles as Web 2.0. JQS is the online publisher of PositivelyPittsburghLiveMagazine.com, an online community magazine to disseminate the Positive News for Positive Pittsburghers. PPL Mag is Pittsburgh’s First Internet radio and TV network with syndicated channels and online radio and TV capabilities.
