Upcoming violinist Charles Yang is a personable chap, as evidenced by his verbal duet/duels with pianist Peter Dugan during a Cayman Arts Festival appearance. 

The pair displayed an easy way with presenting their talent – and presenting classical music – in a relaxed and intimate way at this concert in Camana Bay’s Crescent. 

The fact that it was in the open air, allied to the free entry, really did lend an atmosphere of inclusion to the evening as Yang and Dugan kicked off with some stellar Rachmaninov before segueing into soul classics – Yang displaying rather an excellent soul voice, too. 

Love of music 

Whether performing pyrotechnics on his electric violin or moving Gypsy sounds on his trusty acoustic four-stringer it was obvious that here was a performer in love with music. 

There’s a real movement among younger classical talent to demystify this rich well of musical emotion and to bring something like Chopin into a contemporary setting. Somewhat tongue in cheek, Yang kept referring to Chopin as ‘the Justin Beiber of his day’. But in a sense, these composers were the pop stars of their time so he’s dead right. 

As the event was titled Breaking the Barriers ... From Bach to Billie Jean, the pair ended up playing music from both those artists. During the warmth of a Cayman evening, the crowd was happy to be part of this music. Some things transcend genre and step outside time. Such is music.