I Am An Amplifier

In 2019, while talking to my friend Tricia Park for her podcast Is It Recess Yet, she made an observation that I found instantly and deeply meaningful. We were riffing on the shared experience of how truly great performing artists can elevate the consciousness of an entire audience and I remembered a recital by Maxim Vengerov at Orchestra Hall in Chicago as one of these particularly transcendent events in my life. Maxim played so well that he illuminated a possibility in all of us. Tricia remarked “It’s like they amplify our humanity.” There’s no better way to describe the profound impact performing arts have made on my life. I can’t do what Maxim does the way he does it, but I can do something else. And so can you.