“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” Plato

Last Saturday evening over 100 souls and imaginations gathered for a new community experience at the opening concert in the new burlington ensemble’s 90/10 series. The concept grew from conversations among three local musicians aspiring to make their music more accessible to new audiences while supporting broader community resources of the nonprofit world. The 90/10 reference in the series title illustrates the ratio of funding support between the nonprofit and the musicians for each concert. The founding musicians are developing programs which reflect the essence of each nonprofit partner, have secured a donated venue, and are seeking commitments from local and regional professional musicians. The opening concert benefited the Stern Center for Language and Learning with a program of Beethoven’s piano quartets written when he was only 14 years old, a truly Precocious Prodigy per the concert title and fully in keeping with the Stern Center’s conviction that ‘all great minds don’t think alike.’

As people lingered after the concert, still basking in the shared pleasure of fine music, conversations focused on both the quality of the performance and the wonder and simple elegance of music helping build community. It touched our souls and gave flight to our imaginations. It’s not Plato, but it reminded me of another famous quote, “Let it be.”