Valentine musical delight livestreamed from Leonardslee House

The only thing that will be missing from The Stradivarius Piano Trio’s concert will be a live audience.

But against that will be the pure pleasure of playing and the fact that anyone anywhere in the world will be able to watch.

Livestreaming is key to the new way of doing things, as Maria says – a new way she hopes will continue even when live audiences are able to return: “We have played at Leonardslee House on a number of occasions, and it is a very, very special place to be. We are so excited to be giving a live concert there at this time when live concerts have been so hard to organise because of all the restrictions and making sure that social distancing is in place between the three of us.

“But everyone understands that this is an unusual time, and the real asset for us is that this concert will have a global audience. Far more people can get involved, and the concert will be raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Society.

“It is really wonderful to think that people can get involved and enjoy the music from wherever they are.”

Introduced by John Suchet, the concert will feature Andrew Bernardi (violin), Jonathan Few (cello) and Maria (piano). It can be attended only by livestreaming. Tickets can be bought from www.bernardimusicgroup.com.

Some musicians elsewhere have refused to livestream because they don’t want to miss out on the very special connection you have with a live audience in the room with you.

“And I understand that point of view, and when live concerts can resume, which we hope will be later this year, it will be lovely to have that special connection again. But this is a great chance to interact with audiences in a digital way, and we are finding that more and more digital events are taking place.”

And curiously, a digital kind of interaction is creeping in: “Audiences are able to make comments during the pieces and it is great that some of them have the confidence to do that. And sometimes you can see some of the comments between the pieces you are doing which has been nice. Sometimes you can actually say ‘What does this piece remind you of?’ and you can then read the reactions.

“Undeniably for the arts it has been a desperately difficult time. There is no way to put into words what musicians globally have experienced. So many concerts have been cancelled. Last year I would look at my emails and every time I looked another concert had gone.

“But the great thing about Andrew (Bernardi) and the Shipley Arts Festival is that he doesn’t think so much about what he can’t do, much more about what he can do. They have focused on that and it has been enriching to see.”

And instead of the old days of thinking what the physical capacity of a concert is, these days the encouragement is that its virtual capacity is, of course, infinite: “And that has been completely transformative. You can do a livestream and watch the numbers climb.”

But Maria’s feeling is that as soon as it is safe to return to live audiences, live audiences will certainly return: “I would hope that this time has changed live music.”