Sometimes mistakes just happen. And so it was that the page-turner Musica Viva had booked for Trio Dali’s Sydney concert last night accidentally wrote the wrong date in his diary. Hasty phone-calls were made; Musica Viva staff huddled in the foyer thinking of people who may be able to step in at short notice. Finally, Director of Business Development, Concerts, Tim Matthies, agreed to take on the task. After a brief chat with pianist Amandine and a quick glance at the scores everyone was ready to walk on stage. The first half of the concert went off without a hitch and by the second half the original page-turner had arrived, apologising profusely. Amandine appeared unfazed by the ordeal and the audience, some of whom were puzzled by the new page-turner after interval but otherwise unaware of the situation, was enraptured by the Trio’s performance. The Trio performed the second movement of Dvorák’s ‘Dumky’ Trio as an encore, as they explained in the post-concert Q&A, because they “just love it”.

The post-concert Q&A drew out several other interesting responses from the Trio. When asked how they achieve such beautiful pianissimos they replied they focus on character and colour rather than dynamic. For example, when the Trio studied with Augustin Dumay he likened the opening of the fourth movement of Schubert’s Piano Trio no 2 to shaving, saying the character should be just as straight-forward and carefree.

Tonight Trio Dali performs in Melbourne. If you can’t be there, you can hear the broadcast live on ABC Classic FM from 7pm.