We suddenly hear that the well-known cellist, Martin Henneken, had been called into the hospital in Lisbon for critical heart surgery. Would we have to cancel the sold-out show? No!

Just before he went into the hospital, Martin had contacted a fellow musician at the Gulbenkian Orchestra, a young Portuguese award-winning cellist, Gonçalo Lélis, and asked him to stand in for him. The other two members of the Opus 3 String Trio, Sandrine Cantoreggi and Petra Vahle rallied around for emergency rehearsals with Gonçalo before the big night.

Come Saturday, the programme for the string trio of pieces by Mozart and Beethoven was totally sublime. In the friendly atmosphere of the Teatro Mascarenhas Gregório in Silves, it was the perfect ambience for a perfect evening.

This was all thanks to the hard work by Sandrine, Petra, and Gonçalo – I think I could hear Beethoven amongst the audience clapping his approval.

Thanks also go to the Câmara Municipal de Silves for the use of their wonderful theatre, helping out Silves Rotary Club raise €3,000 towards their local school support projects.