Bach in the Subway...does beauty transcend?

Having recently heard this amazing story at our local church I felt it was one that merited sharing with a wider audience. It concerns a shabbily dressed man who, stood in a metro station in Washington DC started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about three quarters of an hour. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that three to four thousands of people were passing through the station during this time, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by. One middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the open case but without stopping. Another commuter paused to lean against the wall to listen to the music for a few seconds, but then looking at his watch started to walk on. Clearly he was late for work.
The person who paid the most attention was probably a 3 year old boy. His mother tried to urge him along, but the child clearly wanted to stop and look at the violinist.  Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk on though not without turning his head several times. This action was repeated by several other children. Yet all the parents, without exception, forced them to move on after a few seconds.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the top musicians in the world. He had played some of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth a fortune. Only one person had recognised the maestro playing incognito.
Two days before his playing in the subway, the same musician had sold out in a theatre in Boston and the seats averaging $100.

This is a true story. At the suggestion of a journalist from the Washington post, Gene Weingarten, the virtuoso violinist, Joshua Bell had been playing in disguise at the metro station.
It was all part of a social experiment about perception, taste and the priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour do we perceive extraordinary gifts and beauty? Would people stop to appreciate magnificence? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience Weingarten suggested was that if we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing every day of our lives?

This story regarding the complete lack of reaction by the people who witnessed the impromptu concert surprised many commentators and many suspected that it was surely a hoax. However, the story was true as Bell himself explained later in various television interviews. In January 2007 he had indeed performed incognito in the metro-station in an experiment organized by the Washington Post.According to the article in April 2007 Bell had used his own violin, an instrument handcrafted by Antonio Stradivari in 1713 - that he bought several years ago for a reported price of $3.5 million.
Journalist Gene Weingarten was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for his outstanding and thought provoking analysis of the experiment. Weingarten discussed the ramifications of Bell's subway experience concluding that context clearly does play a role in our artistic perceptions. Our perception of beauty is obviously influenced by our mindset at the particular time we perceive it. If we catch the merest glimpse of genius we should acknowledge it or risk losing it forever.