“Religious Views: Christian.” An unusually bold declaration on Facebook from a musician playing Carnegie Hall in New York City, one of classical music’s sacred spots.

It’s the end of June, and Leonardo Le San—a 32-year-old pianist and composer who immigrated from Colombia 18 years ago—is preparing for his Carnegie debut. As a teenager he had thought about playing Carnegie, but “I never thought I’d have the chance.”

His path to Carnegie was winding, geographically and spiritually. No one owned a piano in the tiny, mountainous town in Colombia where he spent his first 14 years. He had training as a tenor and a guitar player, but not until he came to the United States did he learn English and study piano, eventually becoming a music major at the University of Delaware.

What Le San had, he says, was “a terrible temper. Very aggressive. Driven. Insensitive to people. Running over whoever got in my way.” His family was Roman Catholic but Le San went his own way. Determination helped to make him a rising star: “I was the first person at the music school in the morning and the last to leave.” Determination also made him “difficult to love.”

At the University of Delaware “I was getting to know college girls. They were far from their parents and had no restraint.” Then he met one who “was different, a Christian. I was impressed with her character and her ethics. She encouraged me to come to church.” He went and kept going for three months.

Then Le San met Will Metzger, who has now been an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship college minister at the University of Delaware for 45 (count ’em) years.

Read More: http://townhall.com/columnists/MarvinOlasky/2010/07/29/a_christian_at_carnegie_hall/page/full#