Concert at St. Germain

The first few days of our trip nicely coincided with the final days of the Saint Germain Jazz Festival. While at fnac to get our museum passes, we were able to score tickets to Friday night´s (23 May)concert in the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. It was a piano concert given by Yaron Herman, an Israeli-born virtuoso jazz pianist. We showed up at the church at the given time and were escorted to the general admission (Placement Libre) section. The lights were dim and the sun was setting, so the stained-glass gave off an eerie blue glow the whole time, which added to the jazziness of the evening. The interior lights dimmed and M. Herman came out to raucous applause. I suppose most of the people in there probably knew who he was and, considering this was the final concert of the three week festival, we probably should have know who he was too. Then he began to play and the whole church filled with music. I was unfamiliar with most of the tunes, but he played them with such vigor that, when combined with the awesomeness of the venue, they really hit home. I snuck up around the side and down the arcade for a closer look, it was a little creepy walking around such a big church in almost pitch blackness (it was dark by this time). M. Herman finished to some serious applause and played some more familiar tunes as encores, though the way he played them, you kind of had to wait for the tune to break free from the improvisation. He played "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav," "Halleluyah," and finished off with "Hatikvah." Here are some videos (the videos are why this post was delayed - internet connections around here are slooooooooow):


"Yerushalayim Shel Zahav"


"Halleluyah"