Soloist nightmare!

[Peter]

Maria João Pires was scheduled to play a Mozart concerto in 1999 at a lunchtime concert, only to discover as the music started that she had learnt the wrong concerto - the look on her face! The closest I came to that was when I was meant to play the Brahms B minor Rhapsody at a music festival, but turned up at the wrong venue - fortunately I was allowed to play later that day.

https://www.classicfm.com/artists/ma...iano-concerto/

[Sorrano]

Maria João Pires was scheduled to play a Mozart concerto in 1999 at a lunchtime concert, only to discover as the music started that she had learnt the wrong concerto - the look on her face! The closest I came to that was when I was meant to play the Brahms B minor Rhapsody at a music festival, but turned up at the wrong venue - fortunately I was allowed to play later that day.

https://www.classicfm.com/artists/ma...iano-concerto/

To some degree I can appreciate that. As a church organist I have occasionally discovered at the last minute that I've been practicing the wrong music. The hymns aren't very hard, anyway, but it's nice to be prepared!

[Chris]

Peter, your incident reminds me of the time I showed up for an electrical engineering final exam only to find that I too turned up at the wrong venue. Luckily, I wasn't completely alone - two other students were there with me. Apparently, the university's official exam schedule and what the professor told us were different. Also like you, I was allowed to take the final exam later - in the the professor's office, with him starting at me the whole time

Maria João Pires was lucky she happened to know the piece the orchestra was playing and had the skill to pull it off! But it makes me wonder... how did this mistake happen? Did she simply misread the piece they were supposed to play? Did the conductor? Did some staff member somewhere write the wrong thing? This seems like the kind of thing someone could lose his job over!

[Zevy]

Maria João Pires was scheduled to play a Mozart concerto in 1999 at a lunchtime concert, only to discover as the music started that she had learnt the wrong concerto - the look on her face!

Did this actually happen?

[Peter]

Did this actually happen?

I think so - it doesn't look fake to me, her reactions are quite genuine but it does seem incredible that it could happen, what about the rehearsals?

[hal9000]

That's a level of genius I can't comprehend. Heard her play Beethoven's piano concerto 4 a decade ago, so I'm not surprised.

[Zevy]

I think so - it doesn't look fake to me, her reactions are quite genuine but it does seem incredible that it could happen, what about the rehearsals?

I could believe that that happened at a rehearsal, but not at an actual concert. IMHO the video is staged.

[Michael]

Of course you all know about the conductor (who shall be nameless) who was to conduct Beethoven's 6th. He had his score upside down and what came out was the 9th!!

[Decrepit Poster]

I'm fond of this capture of a performer making the best (?) of adversity:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBbRTRBY4D4[/YOUTUBE]

[Sorrano]

Of course you all know about the conductor (who shall be nameless) who was to conduct Beethoven's 6th. He had his score upside down and what came out was the 9th!!

Sounds like something Victor Borge would have done.