This program links intense passion with charming poetry — the dark tragedy of Carmen and her claim to be free to love, with the marvelous Russian novel revealed in notes of Rachmaninov’s cello sonata. It is a Russian sonata that is a personal journey in search of a soulmate; in search of a home woven together with fulfilling relationships; in search of peace built upon personal understanding and acceptance. The cello and piano duo is the voice of the narrator, and the Mendelssohn sonata, with its exuberant themes, its cheerful allegretto, its meditative and poetic adagio, and its virtuosic and optimistic finale, is a perfect prologue for the intensity of the two other works. In Mendelssohn, our feelings appear at the center of the human stage, but still there is a possibility to keep them in balance and to enjoy and preserve their outcome, whether positive or negative. With Rachmaninov and Bizet, everything becomes extreme, without room for compromise. The door of our heart is wide open and now we see its truest glory and saddest misery.