Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Brian Greis, a retired obstetrician-gynecologist who lives with his husband in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, attended some 200 classical concerts a year and spent up to eight out of 12 months on the road traveling to attend performances. Greis never harbored serious ambitions of being a classical musician, but since his childhood in Johannesburg, South Africa, he has been an extremely serious listener—a nomad in search of aesthetic transcendence. I spoke to Greis on a video call from his home about the first piece he ever heard, the concert hall as a spiritual space, and that time he met Joan Sutherland.
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