What if music could find someone youve lost
[Applause]
foreign
[Music]
oh
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[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
thank you very much
thank you thank you so much you know as
victor borge used to say i’d like to
thank my parents for making this
performance possible
and my children for making it necessary
so many people in our lives make our
life purpose
possible and necessary
i’d like to take you on a musical
journey that connects you with one of
those people
someone you love dearly someone
you wanted to have a little more time to
love someone you wish was still with you
this is my mom isn’t she beautiful
and then there’s this guy
yeah i’m afraid that’s me now don’t let
that child like grin
and super stylish beatles haircut fool
you
i was trouble but as you could see i was
happy when i was with my mom
she’s one of the greatest lyrical
sopranos that’s ever lived
ineffably gifted with the voice of an
angel
she could have had center stage anywhere
anywhere in the world
but she gave that up to be my mom
she gave me this stage with you today
she’s been by my side
when i’ve been particularly nervous for
a big performance touring the world with
the piano guys
or when i’ve been off the stage and
struggling and at the mercy of
anxiety and depression or when i felt
like i’m
i’m under the thumb of this perniciously
pervasive
demon known as inadequacy that so many
of us are fighting
she’s gently nudged me forward right at
the moment
when i felt like giving up so i’m a
musician today
not only because of what she gave up for
me but also because of what she
continues to give me
and that support is profound and
especially powerful
why because it comes from a place
about which we know very little
not long after that first picture i
showed you was taken
my mother fell to the floor of our home
suddenly
in this really scary seizure
such an intense moment my my dad rushed
her to the er
brain tumor
big one doctors didn’t know how long
we’d have with her mate one
two maybe three years before we’d lose
her
but due to her strength and a series of
indescribable miracles
she defied that prognosis and fought
that brain tumor for 18
years
thank you
i’ll let her know thank you
she fought that brain tumor for 18 years
but think about it some of those years
were really rough as you can imagine
but we learned to be grateful for every
day
now when her final curtain call came i
couldn’t applaud
because i wasn’t ready for it to end
so after she passed away i spent some
time being angry
bitter resentful confused at these years
that were stolen from me
at the chance i never had to know the
soprano
in this beautiful woman to hear her sing
in full voice without pain
to perform with her i would have loved
that just me playing the cello right
next to her just looking up at her
beautiful face singing oh i would have
loved that chance
i never got that chance so i struggled
with this i really did
but then i discovered something
something that has compelled me to be on
the stage talking with you
today isn’t it true that our life’s most
sublime melodies tend to be written
during the dark symphonies of our
struggle
and in this dark symphony i found a
healing formatta
the very thing that had wounded me was
the same thing that healed me
the power of
music you see since then i’ve spent some
very special time with my mom
through music i’ve discovered that the
people we’ve lost
aren’t lost at all and the holes their
absence
leaves inside us are not meant to be
filled by someone or
something else
instead they are intentional mindful
places
meant for us to go to take refuge to
reconnect and to reunite with our loved
ones
to find them there still interested
still invested and somehow
still involved in the details of our
lives
that is where i found my mom
now i can’t prove this to you with
science there’s no chance
spirituality helped me take the first
step but ultimately you just have to go
there yourself in your own way
and music the power of music can act as
a guide for you on this
incredible important journey
if you’re willing i’d like to go there
together right now
and i want to show this to you because i
i want you if you need to use this later
on
when you’re on your own in a quiet place
and you’ve got a song that’s personal to
you i want to show you how this can work
i’d like you to close your eyes if you
would please
choose a loved one you want to connect
with
it could be someone you’ve already been
thinking about as i’ve been talking
i want you to picture a favorite place
a relaxing place it could be a place
that you both adored together
now picture your loved ones sitting or
standing across from you
make this as detailed as you can it’s
important what are they wearing
what is their posture their expression
is it a smile
is it a look of concern or is hope
written in their eyes i want you to hold
this image in your mind you could do so
continually with your eyes closed or you
can open them it’s up to you but i want
you to live in this place
while i play for you one more piece of
music
it’s a piece i’ve never performed in
public why because i
feared that i wouldn’t do it justice
it’s my mom’s favorite
and as i play i want you to have a
conversation with this beautiful person
across from you
i want you to to hold their hand share a
long
hug ask for forgiveness
or finally give of it freely if you need
to
ask for help with something you’re
struggling with
at the very least express gratitude for
how they’ve made you
possible and necessary
express love
my mother is a soprano
with the voice of an angel
and that voice for me is still sweet and
rings with a resounding relevance
and as i play i hope you can hear the
voice of your own angel
and let music find someone
you’ve lost
me
[Music]
so
thank you