After almost 50 years, the journey is nearing its end.

On Sunday, March 29, internationally acclaimed pianist George Darden performed his final concert in the Carolinas -- a benefit for the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center and the Orangeburg County Historical Society -- at Stevenson Auditorium.

More than 400 listeners from as far as away as North Carolina and Florida attended the one-time concert.

"And people from all over this state, Anderson, Charleston, Edisto Island, Isle of Palms," said Beth Thomas, executive director of the Fine Arts Center. "People traveled from all over to be here."

Born in Charleston, Darden grew up on his family's farm, Dardenella, on Hickory Hill Road south of Orangeburg. He attended the Edisto district schools.

Never much of a farm boy, Darden was 3 years old when he began playing at the encouragement of his aunt.

Darden said he never cared much for farm life, instead finding himself blessed with a talent for the piano's ivory keys.

Darden attended Indiana University and Florida State and graduated from Montreat College. He made his piano solo debut with the Savannah Symphony in 1963. He also spent 21 years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York until his retirement in 2006.

In the early 1970s, he was based in Rome and appeared throughout France, Stuttgart, Vienna, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong and Moscow. He has performed in Canada in Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto and in the United States, with performances in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Hartford, Chicago, Miami and many other cities.

The first half of the March 29 performance were classics of Chopin followed by a second half of French and Spanish works, Richard Strauss and selections from Russian composer Rachmaninoff.

For an hour and a half, the reflections of happiness, joy, love and sadness carried the listener on the wings of emotion to a world where dreams still live.

Pangs of joy at a new love enveloped the listener through Chopin before dancing a waltz with the emperor in Strauss' "Kaiserwalzer."

Of Sunday's program, Darden said the selection of Chopin and Debussy were in memoriam to his late manager, close friend and confidante Martha Munro. The two were to make a trip to Prague in the fall of 2008.

Those plans were cut short, however, when at 60 years old, Munro passed unexpectedly from heart complications.

Chopin's "Nocturne KKIVa, No. 16," performed fifth in the selections, reflects a certain sadness.

After nearly 50 years, Darden will close the keyboard for public performances at year's end after completing contracts around the world, including concerts in Austria and Italy when his official retirement begins.

With appreciative laughter, the audience caught on to the irony in Darden's last melody of a two-number encore.

Perhaps light-heartedly, perhaps apropos, the concert was ended with Brahms' "Lullaby," the children's classic that has for more than 140 years signaled to millions of youngsters the end of the day, a time for butterflies in spring, sunny bright mornings all in their dreams.

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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