Getting Off the Hamster Wheel

Shoulder injuries have sidelined 33-year-old violinist Maxim Vengerov in recent years. He took some time off, the injury healed, and now he's "basically fine," he says--but he's not going to play the violin again for a while anyway:

"The violin is my mother tongue. I will always come back to it, but have no plans to get back on the treadmill. There comes a time when you need to stop flying all over the world."

Reminds me of finding out that a friend of mine from high school now has the acting career of my dreams. I was a little envious at first, but then when I looked at her schedule--3 months in Philadelphia, 3 months in DC, 3 months in NYC, 3 months in Baltimore--I got over it pretty quick.

Anyway, Vengerov won't just be lying on the beach somewhere--he's got some conducting gigs lined up, and he has his own music school in Israel.