[CS-FSLUG] A Christian at Carnegie Hall - Full Article

[Fred A. Miller]

On 07/29/2010 08:42 PM, Ed Hurst wrote:
> Fred A. Miller wrote:
>   
>> http://townhall.com/columnists/MarvinOlasky/2010/07/29/a_christian_at_carnegie_hall/page/full
>>     
> 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.
>   

Here ya go...................

Fred
______________

Marvin Olasky
A Christian at Carnegie Hall

"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.

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."

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

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?"

-- 
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."
Thomas Jefferson

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