<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffcc" text="#000000">
On 07/29/2010 08:42 PM, Ed Hurst wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4C52200D.8070001@soulkiln.org" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Fred A. Miller wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://townhall.com/columnists/MarvinOlasky/2010/07/29/a_christian_at_carnegie_hall/page/full">http://townhall.com/columnists/MarvinOlasky/2010/07/29/a_christian_at_carnegie_hall/page/full</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
I couldn't read it. There was an evil flash popup blocking the page.
Whatever it is they had to say must not have been important if they had
to pull that stunt.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
Here ya go...................<br>
<br>
Fred<br>
______________<br>
<br>
<div class="Headline">
<div class="LeftPart">
<div class="ArticleContent">
<div class="ColumnistName"> Marvin Olasky </div>
<div class="ColumnTitle"> A Christian at Carnegie Hall </div>
<div class="ArticleText">
<p>"Religious Views: Christian." An unusually bold declaration on
Facebook from a musician playing Carnegie Hall in New York City, one of
classical music's sacred spots. </p>
<p>It's the end of June, and Leonardo Le San—a 32-year-old pianist and
composer who immigrated from Colombia 18 years ago—is preparing for his
Carnegie debut. As a teenager he had thought about playing Carnegie,
but "I never thought I'd have the chance." </p>
<p>His path to Carnegie was winding, geographically and spiritually. No
one owned a piano in the tiny, mountainous town in Colombia where he
spent his first 14 years. He had training as a tenor and a guitar
player, but not until he came to the United States did he learn English
and study piano, eventually becoming a music major at the University of
Delaware.
</p>
<p>What Le San had, he says, was "a terrible temper. Very aggressive.
Driven. Insensitive to people. Running over whoever got in my way." His
family was Roman Catholic but Le San went his own way. Determination
helped to make him a rising star: "I was the first person at the music
school in the morning and the last to leave." Determination also made
him "difficult to love." </p>
<p>At the University of Delaware "I was getting to know college girls.
They were far from their parents and had no restraint." Then he met one
who "was different, a Christian. I was impressed with her character and
her ethics. She encouraged me to come to church." He went and kept
going for three months.
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then Le San met Will Metzger, who has now been an InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship college minister at the University of Delaware for
45 (count 'em) years. Metzger counseled and challenged him: Do not toy
with God so as to win favor from a young woman. Le San went to a park
for several hours, went over the Bible passages Metzger emphasized,
prayed, repented. </p>
<p>He changed. He joined Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Wilmington and
is now a member of a PCA church in Philadelphia. He is now married
(although not to the young woman who originally brought him to church)
and has a 1-year-old. Some musicians are haughty, but Le San has
sacrificed for his family, until recently working as a courier to put
bread on the table, and working for his brother's moving company when
he was short of workers. Some composers ignore those who helped them,
but Le San calls and writes Metzger regularly. </p>
<p>Some "high culture" artists look down at popular music, but Le San
brings it into his compositions. Some proud musicians resent performing
except in polished halls, but Le San performs two or three times each
month in many kinds of venues, both for financial and ministry reasons:
"I love to play for kids at schools. I love to play in retirement
communities: They hug me and give me inspiration." </p>
<p>Nevertheless, Carnegie Hall is special: Just days before the
concert, he told me, "I need to be in the best shape of my life." And
then, on the last Saturday in June, dressed in the pianist's classic
tailcoat, Le San strode onto a stage with a Steinway grand under a
vaulted ceiling. He fluently opened with Beethoven and closed with
Liszt. In between he played Chopin and Rachmaninoff, noting their
emigrations: Chopin left Poland (Russian oppression was severe) and
Rachmaninoff left Russia in 1917 when Communists seized power. </p>
<p>Le San also played two of his own compositions. His Noctazia
emphasizes the vibrating particles in a universe created like a musical
composition—and the vibrations could be felt in the fifth row. His
world premiere piece, The Voices of My Town, incorporated music from
Colombian culture, tango tunes, and elements of jazz and blues (see the
Bill Edgar interview on p. 28). The audience loved it. "I was happy,"
Le San said later: "The audience was great." </p>
<p>The musician who was once driven and insensitive now wants to share
his gift with all kinds of people. He has a humble confidence that
perhaps comes with the favorite quotation he lists on his Facebook page
in reference to God: "If I am for you who can be against you?" </p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."
Thomas Jefferson
</pre>
</body>
</html>