Shymkent is the capital city of South Kazakhstan region. It is the last place I expect myself to appear on stage, and yet there I was, in a beautiful concert hall that has a calendar as filled-up as Carnegie Hall, giving a recital to local South Kazakhs of all shapes and sizes who rushed to the recital like it was sales at Harod's. A translator who spoke as much English as I could speak Kazakh read out a brief bio of me (I can only hope!) and announced each pieces as I happily banged away on a 7-foot white Yamaha concert grand. I played the whole recital without an intermission - I couldn't look up "intermission" in Kazakh. The audience loved it nevertheless and the concert was really well received. One lady audience even rushed up on stage, gave me a rose and a kiss! I can only hope that isn't a Kazakh proposal of marriage...
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