Dear Audience,

When I was a member of the Magic of Music committee of the Knight Foundation, it was our job to recommend funding for various projects dedicated to restoring the magic to symphony concerts around the country. “How will we know if a project is working?” asked one of the committee members at the first meeting. “Look at the audience,” I replied, “see if their eyes are shining.” And that was how the “shining eyes test” was initiated. Before any project could be funded, someone fro the committee had to be in the hall to check out the eyes! There is no greater joy for me than to be in the foyer after one of our concerts and see, from your shining eyes, that you have truly experienced the magic of the music. Your enthusiasm and loyalty, over these twenty-eight years, has enabled me to stumble, shine, learn and grow. I can’t tell you how indebted I am to you and how grateful I am.

Great music, performed with commitment and passion, can make eyes shine brightly, but this is especially true when the audience is informed about the music. If you knew nothing about, say, Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 and you heard the infinitely slow descending scale at the beginning, you might wonder, “when is this music going to get going?” But if you knew that those notes represent the painful steps down into the dark dungeon, where the political prisoner Florestan is incarcerated, you would be drawn immediately into the drama of the music. In the pre-concert lectures I inform you of such things in all the pieces we perform.

Let me give you another example from a concert a few seasons ago. The opening of the Second Suite from Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe describes the strange and marvelous sounds of nature awakening at dawn. Had you attended the Discovery Series concert, you would have been able to hear every detail in the texture, even the usually imperceptible violas divided into four parts and the answering echo in the horns. That’s because, with the orchestra onstage, those instruments were able to demonstrate their parts. And, of course, knowing that you would be listening so intensely, the whole orchestra would have redoubled its efforts to make sure that every detail in the music was clearly articulated. No wonder all the eyes shine! If you come to the Discovery Series and hear the explanations during the concert with the orchestra on stage, I promise you will hear more, understand more and be more drawn to the music.

I will do anything to have you join me in experiencing the music to the fullest possible extent. If you have a burning question that you think I can shed light on, then call me. My cello teacher Gaspar Cassado taught me that education is borne on the wings of passion and no time is the wrong time to learn something new. I need you as my partners. Whatever you are eager to learn I will do my best to teach, so that, when we look at each other in the foyer after the concert, we will see in each other’s eyes the joy of a shared experience.

Benjamin Zander