An intimate evening with the legendary Maestro YANNI
It all began with a Facebook post... On one such particular occasion, July 24, 2017, to be exact, I posted a comment on one of his posts where he replied with "... it looks like that I am coming to Canada!..." A conversation ensued, and before I even knew it he invited me to be his guest! WHAT!?
This wasn't a practical joke... and it wasn't a fake account! The real Yanni had just invited me to be a guest at his concert. Saying that I was feeling excited would be an understatement. For those who have attended his concerts, you can relate with the emotions I felt realizing he'll be in my town! Furthermore, being invited as a guest... Wow!
About 3 months later... The Pure Yanni series kicked off in Milwaukee, WI on October 27th with 6 more stops before the Edmonton show scheduled for November 7th.
Getting the passes
I could see tickets selling like hot cakes! Usually, when you buy tickets, you get a confirmation with seat information, date, time, and venue. But what do you do when you're invited? Just show up and hope security lets you through? This is what I had going on in my head:
Me: "The Maestro told me not to worry about tickets... so I'm here."
Security: "Ummmm..."
Me: "I can show you a Facebook post!"
Security: "Ummmm..."
At this point in time, I hadn't heard from anyone. I was freaking out... what if the team had forgotten about me? Would be a bummer if he's in town but I can't go because the show is sold out!
Thankfully though, I had Linda and Shirley (2 amazing people from the Yanni community) to guide me! About a week before the show, on their advice, I sent out a quick email to teamyanni and on the morning of the concert got a response stating tickets and VIP passes will be waiting for me! Phew!!
The concert at Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton
The show started at 8 p.m. on schedule. The background music faded out, and a deep husky voice said "Hello!?"... followed by Yanni walking on to the stage from the left. After a thunderous round of applause and cheering everybody settled down, and Yanni started describing the idea behind the Pure Yanni series followed by taking questions from the audience.It literally felt like sitting in Yanni's large drawing room with a beautiful Piano on the side while he talks about his life, experiences and how it has all shaped his music and persona. He played several of his famous compositions and even occasionally went to 'the black' (it's the area where everything that he has ever written and will ever write exists)... and yes, he played my absolute favorite, Enchantment
Yanni has a great sense of humor! Somebody's phone rang in the audience, and he just said "Hello...?" At another instance, an audience member asked him how he picked his musicians and whether there were auditions to which Yanni asked if he was trying to apply for this job! :D
I live-streamed 3 of his performances: Felitsa, Enchantment, and Nostalgia.
Meeting the Maestro
The thought of meeting somebody whose albums have peaked at No. 1 in Billboards, has had 2 Grammy nominations, has performed in more than 30 countries on five continents in front of more than 5 million people and sold over 25 million copies of their albums was... nerve-wracking, to say the least! The moment I met him... I was swept away! Here was a man who had accomplished more than most can even dream of but hadn't let that get to his head. Such humility, passion, and love are extremely rare, and I got to experience it firsthand!
Words can't really describe a lot of the feelings and emotions from that evening. I would absolutely recommend attending any of his shows to feel his magic firsthand. The music is uplifting and being mainly instrumental, transcends all borders and language limitations. He recently finished his Acropolis 25th anniversary concert. Dates and tickets here: www.yanni.com/tour
