When the doctor cleared Jeffrey Kahane to return to the stage in late April after a nearly two-month bout with severe hypertension, his upcoming performances were in Chicago and Toronto and not Denver, where he serves as the Colorado Symphony’s music director.
Concerned over public relations fallout that could result from appearing elsewhere first after being forced to cancel five sets of concerts in Denver beginning March 9, Kahane considered dropping those appearances, as well.
But upon reflection, he went ahead with them, performing April 26-29 with the Chicago Symphony and May 2-3 and 5-6 with the Toronto (Ontario) Symphony.
“For me, it was really important to get back to doing what I love to do and what is my life’s passion,” Kahane said from Los Angeles. “And I also think it is a really good thing for the Colorado Symphony for me … to be out there doing major orchestra guest dates.
“I felt badly that anybody would feel slighted. It was certainly not intended that way. It just somehow, in the end, felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Doug Adams, the Colorado Symphony’s president and chief executive officer, encouraged Kahane to go ahead with the out-of-town concerts. He said he is aware of little in the way of ruffled feathers on the part of Denver audiences.
“I would hope that musicians and the audience understand how things are scheduled and understand just what happened,” Adams said. “You have to be a little bit open-
minded about this.”
The week before he was scheduled to serve March 9-11 as piano soloist for a group of of concerts in Denver, Kahane, 50, was diagnosed with severe hypertension. He recalls his doctor telling him:
“Your blood pressure is really high, and your pulse rate is too high, and if you don’t do something about it, you are at risk for some serious things. Heart attacks, strokes – there are all kinds of things that can happen if you don’t take care of it.”
The doctor strongly urged him to take a month off and rest – not staying in bed but avoiding his rigorous travel and work schedule.
“I was working incredibly hard, going for very long stretches with very little down time and just doing too much,” Kahane said.
After the first month or so, the doctor advised two further weeks of rest, forcing more concert cancellations.
“It was very hard on many levels,” Kahane said. “In the more than 25 years that I’ve been a professional musician, I can count on one hand the number of concerts I canceled, and one was when my father was dying.”
Kahane said he feels good now, and he’s looking forward to returning Friday to the podium in Denver.
“I’m so happy to be back making music,” he said, and “there’s absolutely no reason for concern about the future at this point as long as I take good care of myself.”
Reach fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan at 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
