CANTO
by Gino Vannelli & Lucas Jusse & the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden.

Amsterdam, Holland, 1 December 2007.
Het concertgebouw – The Concertbuilding.

A Papageno-Concert for autistic children. This Papageno foundation does research how music therapy affects autistic children. Papageno is a foundation which is specialized in music therapy for autistic children. So a great cause for raising funds.

The joy of music can bring happyness and emotions in people's lives and for us it's the joy of
GINO VANNELLI's music and His divine voice...

A small story about an afternoon and an evening in music paradise by the editors (B&T) This time a true fans story nothing professional just straight from the heart! So think twice before you read this...

The different emotions are still high in the head and cooking inside our bodies. First we got to meet Ross Vannelli for the first time in our lives and wow!!! What a Guy and so full of energy and love for His Brother... Gino's face said it all for us... The fun on their faces was so great to see and we could feel the Family thing between these two.

It's almost "Sinterklaas" in Holland so we bought two chocolate letters with big walnuts for the Vannelli Brothers a "G" and a "V". We had to buy a "V" because the "R" was out of stock!!! Gino and Ross were very pleased with the nice chocolate and we explained the "Sinterklaas" thing a little bit. A big event in Holland on 5 December.

We drove to Amsterdam and yeah what can we say with 2 Vannelli's in the car??? We both smiled and had big fun... A relaxed and peaceful ride... B&T have to be careful with the Dutch language because there is 1 Vannelli who can understand a few words hahahahaha... We looked so forward to this concert because we do not go many times to a classical concert, we heard in the meantime that Gino had to live through many big problems at the last minutes and He had to fight to get everything in the right order. So many things to think about like sound, musicians, producers, audience, press, photographers, music, songs, clothes and much much more... There are subjects we even do not think or know about... and as we all know Gino needs to control everything and be sure the audience gets the best! He won't do it when the audience does not get the best!!!

We arrived in the concertgebouw and guess what we had our own parkingplace, not WE of course but
Gino Vannelli... A parkingplace in Amsterdam is super expensive and super difficult to find and now we had a parkingplace at the artists entrance of the concertgebouw, number 2. We bet number 1 was for Jaap van Zweden the Conductor.

There is a black piano in Gino's dressingroom and yes He jumps behind the beautiful black beast immediately and the goose-bumps are coming up already on our body parts!!!

We look into the concert-hall and WOW!!! Sooo impressive and beautiful already and it's still empty. Lucas Jussen and His Brother Arthur and Parents came in and the way they sad hello was so spontaneous and genuine that they immediately stole our hearts. You will not believe what you see and hear when they are behind a grand-piano. Even when you do not know much about classical music! And now one of them, Lucas, will play with Gino and perform CANTO... Lucas 14 years old and Arthur 11 years old are extremely talented and played the piano already on a very young age. Gino & Ross were so impressed by this Kid Lucas. Where in the Gino Vannelli world did we hear this name Lucas before??? What a coincidence...

In the meantime we hear Gino shout, yell, sing and play the piano, He must be doing exercises for His voice... For us this are sounds from heaven...

The musicians of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra came in too and there were many musicians and slowly the stage became full with Musicians and musical instruments. Lucas goes behind this very big black grand-piano and starts his exercises and Gino came on stage too for the sound check. Ross was taking care of the sound system for Gino. A classical concert does not need a sound system they only have a sitting and seats rehearsal and than they did CANTO. The first second we had already wet eyes and were shocked because of the beautiful CANTO tunes by the violins, Lucas played the grand-piano and Gino sang. My oh my we did not breathe to be as quiet as possible and listen and enjoy deeply enjoy!!! Why are we the lucky ones??? We decided not think no more we just listened and listened...

When we collected our tickets with seat numbers right before the concert we saw many famous Dutch people coming in like tv people and actors and actresses, journalists, writers, producers and business people and also Gino's Neighbours!!! And let's not forget the hardcore Gino Vannelli fans...It was a real event for people to be seen, they must be seen at such a big benefit happening organized by Jaap van Zweden's Wife. Jaap van Zweden a very famous Dutch star conductor and before this a solo violin player and concertmaster for 16 years in 1995 he started his conductor's career and that's big at the moment. Next 2008 Jaap van Zweden will become the musical director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and also the Chief-conductor of the Philharmonic of Antwerpen in Belgium. Gino loves to work with Jaap van Zweden and maybe they will do more in the future, we hope so and many people have the same hopes...

The concert: First part was classical. a young autistic woman called Jooske Heijsteeg played the grand-piano. A Johan Sebastian Bach piano concert... Very beautiful and amazing. Jaap van Zweden accompanied Jooske down from the high stairs on stage... You can see a little bit of the high stairs on the backgound of this web page. Imagine you have to walk down with a view into a sold out concert-hall.

Lucas Jussen played Chopin and this performance was just too superb for words, the people in the concert-hall and we too were blown away... We are honest and we do not know nothing about classical music but from this music we recognized parts and we love the grand-piano so we were in music heaven and Gino was not on stage yet!

Yesssss, our hearts pumped like crazy, we are so nervous that all goes well for Gino and His feelings. We waited and listened to the presenter, Maartje van Weegen, also a very famous woman in Holland, she announced Gino Vannelli with flair "GINO VANNELLI" and yesss Gino did not walk down the stairs... It took a few minutes and yesssss at last there He is... "Check the glorious grin and the bright eyes above..." First: PEOPLE GOTTA MOVE WOW!!! FUNNY!!! Again a different super kicking version but over too fast. We were still listening with open mouths and the end of PEOPLE GOTTA MOVE was already there, like in a flash! Like in a fingerclick!

Oh my, oh my, there are the sounds of CANTO the violins and the grand-piano sounds played by Lucas. Goosebumps, chickenflesh and wet eyes... emotions, admiration and sooooo beautiful, we could hear a needle falling down in the concert-hall, people were surprised that Gino can sing something like Canto. Most of the audience are classical music lovers. We had the feeling that they appreciated Gino's performance very, very much! BIG applause... We say SUPERB and bravo to Lucas Jussen and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden. Gino got a very beautiful bunch of Dutch flowers as a THANK YOU gift for his great performance.

The Mother of Lucas Jussen told us after the concert how beautiful Gino sang CANTO and how she loved it, she is a very nice Lady and this Family has absolutely no starlike airs, she was really a true proud Mom, what a life she must have with those 2 boys one weekend in Amsterdam the next in Paris and than to Rome etc...And the Kids have to do their schoolwork too and Dad (Paul Jussen) plays the kettledrum or timpani in the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. The Mother is a music teacher, she teaches German flute. The Mother also told us that they played Gino Vannelli's CANTO all the time in the car and that Lucas could almost sing the complete song. Wow!!! What a Family!!! They really appreciate Quality, VANNELLI quality and they are not afraid to say so. Lucas and Arthur Jussen were joking around on Gino's dressingroom nameplate and Ross joined them rubbing out letters...

Gino felt good and had this big smile on His face... We told Him to be proud of Himself!

After the concert there was a reception with press, photographers, sponsors and the famous Dutch people... What a special day again! We will never ever forget this CANTO version maybe we will never hear this version again, but hey who knows?

For the Dutch people we try to remember who we saw that evening: Huub Stapel, Monique van de Ven and her husband Edwin de Vries, Henk van de Meijden and his wife, Frits Barend, Yvonne Brandsteder and her son Rick Bandsteder, Maartje van Weegen and her husband Joop Daalmeijer and about 2.000 more...

In the Telegraaf Newspaper, Holland's newspaper number 1, of monday 3 December 2007 is an article printed with a little Gino Vannelli picture, we try to get it, scan it and put it here on this web page.

MANY BIG THANKS TO GINO VANNELLI and ROSS VANNELLI FOR GIVING THEIR TALENTS TO THIS GREAT CAUSE WHERE CHILDREN GET THERAPY THROUGH MUSIC, MUSIC IS WHAT WE NEED IN THIS CRAZY LIFE!!!

The ride home was so cosy and guess what music we played in the car and sang along with...
(B&T) dated 3 December 2007.

NEDERLANDS/DUTCH: Hier zijn een paar woorden van Fred W. uit Utrecht, Nederland, zijn e-mail is van 3 December 2007 met het onderwerp: concert concertgebouw amsterdam

ha die barend en trees
hier een mailtje van fred w. uit utrecht
ik ben geweest bij het concert van het waar gino zong in Amsterdam met het filharmonisch orkest voor autistische kinderen en hun begeleiders.

hij heeft een gedeelte gezongen van peaple cotta move later heeft hij het nummer canto gespeeld en is begeleid door een autistische jongen op de vleugel! KIPPENVEL ECHT WAAR!!! HELEMAAL GEWELDIG!

ik had trouwens de indruk dat hij naar mij zwaaide, althans hij zwaaide wel mijn kant op, maar daar zaten meer mensen
het was het geld dubbel en dwars waard
hij komt ook naar het conservatorium in utrecht. weten jullie hoe ik aan een kaart kan komen? gewoon via de v v v, s
als jullie dat mij kunnen vertellen dan graag! met vriendelijke groeten, Fred.

ENGLISH/ENGELS: Here are a few words from Fred W. in Utrecht, the Netherlands, his e-mail is dated 3 December 2007 with the subject: Concert Concertbuilding Amsterdam

Hi Barend and Trees
Here is an e-mail from Fred W. in Utrecht.
I was at the concert where Gino sang with the philharmonic orchestra for autistic kids and their attendants in Amsterdam.

He sang a part of people gotta move. Later he played the canto song accompanied by an autistic boy on the piano. GOOSE-BUMPS, really!!! COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY FANTASTIC!

I had this impression that he waved at me, that is he waved to my side of the concert-hall, but there were more people.
It was really worth all the money I paid for a ticket.
He also comes to the conservatory of Utrecht.
Do you know how to get a ticket? Just by or through the VVV's?
Please tell me if you know something! Kind regards, Fred.

Comments:

An e-mail from Maru in Mexico dated 9 December 2007 with the subject: Het Concertgebouw...

Hi my dear HAPPY friends!!!
How are these beautiful moments in your lives growing and growing!!!
It's fantastic what you wrote, I could feel the energy, happiness and joy in every word I was reading and you made my heart fill with extraordinary and wonderful feelings!!!

THANKS AGAIN for sharing your experiences!!!
The concert hall looks spectacular!!!
I just can imagine how it was!!!

It's great that you could meet Ross. I think he's so sweet and with such warmth, that's positively overwhelming. When I had the chance to speak to him in Las Vegas, he makes you feel sooooooo comfortable and "at your level", so human!!! And his beautiful face is breathtaking!!! I love my picture with him too!!!

You lucky guys, two Vannellis in your car, what else can you ask for? You are right, you are like in paradise!!!
I hope there are many more things to come in the future, but all the memories of what you've gone through with Gino, are to be more than thankful to life. GOD KEEP BLESSING YOU for being as you are, beautiful human beings, and please keep writing with your heart, as you always do. You make my heart jump of joy, my spirit fill with positive feelings. YOU MAKE ME SOOOO HAPPY, THANKS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY SOUL!!!

with all my love and respect. THANK YOU.

Read page 6 of the Gino Vannelli newspaper, dated Monday 3 December 2007.

Back to the home/index web page.

Back to the top of this web page.