It was not a surprise to find music-related memorabilia everywhere—from a simple bar of soap covered with purple and blue music notes to a library and CD collection that could rival the Smithsonian’s.

Eight hours is a long time, but it flew by like the snap of your fingers.  Her world is compelling.  Talk about history, psychology, blogging, and music … she dusted fallow crevices in my mind.

She’s preparing a concert series for Russian friends, she shared.  My mind drew a blank, and I said, “Russian composers?”  “Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov …, “ she shot back.

She has written, directed and produced History Alive Through MUSIC, showcasing seven young up and coming actors from ages 10 – 17.  She walked me through the behind-the-scenes 15-hour Saturdays and Sundays working with the kids and searching for that perfect example of drawing forth the emotions as though you were actually experiencing:

• The Gettysburg Battlefield

• A slave who didn’t even own a pair of shoes

• An immigrant at Ellis Island being “processed” after a grueling transport in a ship’s steerage class

She sees kids (along with adults) losing rich history that our forefathers left for us, and it is her burning desire to educate and impassion today’s younger generation with a rich understanding of America’s grand history.  To that end, she is now launching into social media to open this world to others.

Sharing a meal with a creative genius is a meal all by itself.  There have been few times in my life when I’ve met someone who I could have stayed up all night talking with and never skipped a beat.  This was one of those occasions.

Not only was this a lunch I shall never forget, where I sat at the feet of a creative genius, it was also a lesson  for me to dive deeper into MY passion, squeeze the juice out of every second, and laugh, eat well, and let my pet give me slobbery,  wet kisses—and  very often, too.  That kind of grounds you!

Who has inspired you to reach beyond yourself?  When have you left an event ready to set the world on fire with your passion?  Who would you choose to spend an eight-hour lunch with?  Stories, please!  I’d LOVE to hear your stories.

Living Life With Passion,

~Ludwig van Beethoven

Can you fathom life without music?  How long has it been since you fed your passion for music at a concert that left you yearning for more?

Jacquelyne Silver’s concerts touch my soul.  She makes me laugh, cry, sing, and engage with her.  She will teach and entertain you.  You will leave her performance with joy in your heart, a firmer appreciation for music and an unbridled love for her music.  She is witty, erudite, versatile and oh so entertaining.

Jacqui was three years old when her ragtime-player father brought a piano home.  They both sat on the piano bench and he taught her two chords in the bass clef.  As she played a chord, he improvised the melody in the treble clef.  He would say “change” when she needed to switch to the other chord.

When the exercise was finished, she said, “Okay daddy, let’s change places now.”  She played back the melody he had just rendered, and told him to “change” at the appropriate time.  Thus began the brilliant career of a child prodigy.

From Juilliard (on a full scholarship at the age of 15) to Broadway, her repertoire has no limits.  She has worked in close collaboration with Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Leonard Bernstein, Andre Kostelanetz, and Barry Tuckwell, to name a few of the greats.

Jacqui pulls you into the lives of the composers whose works she performs.  You leave her concerts hungering and thirsting for more knowledge about whatever form of music you appreciate the most.

In one of her performances entitled “Happy Bedfellows:  The Law and Music,” she explores the connection between music and the law.  “There are many famous composers who studied the law and indeed were active composers,” she shares.  Tchaikovsky, Robert Schumann, Gilbert & Sullivan and Cole Porter were but a few of the attorneys whose first love was music.

Jacqui brings them to life in her lecture and music.  For example, she told the story of how Robert Schumann’s parents sent him to law school.  He was an intellectual and a journalist, who came to music late in life.  He began writing about the law and connecting it with music.  Robert fell in love with his teacher’s daughter, Clara,  and after she turned 18 they were married.  This remains one of the great love stories in all of musical history.    He wrote a beautiful piece for children.  The music represents the imagination of a child dreaming.  As you hear Jacqui play Traumeria, new meaning flows into this comfortable, well-known melody.

As a very young child I was privileged to attend concerts given by Arthur Rubenstein, Myra Hess and Van Cliburn.  What sets Jacquelyne Silver apart from these world-renowned artists is her breadth of knowledge and how she can jump from fascinating details and music of Frederic Chopin to Scott Joplin’s ragtime, or Emmanuel Chabrier’s Habanera.  She imbues you with her passion for music—even if you don’t know the difference between a quarter and a half note!

Frederick Nietzschie states, “In music the passions enjoy themselves.”  My hope is that this few minutes of sharing a creative genius with you, will spark your originality.  Jaquelyne Silver  has certainly touched my life and given me “wings” to soar.

To Your Creative Passion,

Dar

P.S.  This Sunday, March 21, 2010,  Jacqui will be performing at the Athenaeum in La Jolla, California.  The  Concert title is the “Creativity and Genius–the Fire Within!”  She will be exploring where creative genius comes from through works by Beethoven, Chopin, and Duke Ellington, to name a few.  For ticket information call 858-454-5872.