What happens when an internationally acclaimed chamber ensemble – The Eroica Trio – fly in for a concert only to find there is no piano at the concert venue upon their arrival. The Trio – Erika Nickrenz (piano), Sara Parkins (violin) and Sara Sant’Ambrogio (cello) – will perform on Sunday, February 14th at St. Paul’s Church, 4pm as guests of Impromptu Classical Concerts. At St. Paul’s, Ms. Nickrenz will find a piano, perfectly tuned, awaiting her use.

Such was not the case when the Trio arrived in Tecate, Mexico to perform a concert at the Tecate (Beer) Brewery. Cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio describes what happened next: “We noticed that there was no piano actually there when we arrived and we started walking around looking to see if there happened to be a piano hanging around outside. We then saw a Toyota pickup careening up to the back of the brewery with a little brown piano in the truck bed and 3 Mexican boys desperately trying to keep it in the truck!”

The challenges didn’t stop once the piano was onstage and the concert was underway. Ms. Sant’Ambrogio continues: “They didn’t turn off the beer brewing vats so it sounded like a Huey Helicopter was landing on top of our heads during the entire concert. Also the floor was tile and the entire audience was drinking beer, so every few minutes you would hear a beer bottle falling down and rolling slowly across the entire tile floor. Usually in the quietest moments in the music.” In the best tradition of “The Show Must Go On”, the Eroica Trio completed the concert amidst churning brewing vats and rolling beer bottles.

St. Paul’s Church will offer a more tranquil setting as the Trio perform works by Gershwin, Godard, Piazzolla and Mendelssohn. George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” was arranged for Eroica Trio by Kenji Bunch. “Berceuse” (lullaby or cradle song) is the best-known composition from French composer Bejamin Godard’s opera “Jocelyn”. Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla has been a favorite with the Impromptu Classical Concerts audiences.

Piazzolla studied composition with Alberto Ginastera in Buenos Aires, and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He created a modern style for the tango that combined elements of traditional tango, Argentinean folk music and contemporary classical, jazz and popular techniques into a “Nuevo Tango” that was as suitable for the concert hall as for the dance floor. Eroica Trio will perform Piazzolla’s ” Estaciones Portenas” (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires). The program ends with Felix Mendelssohn’s “Trio No.2, Opus 66 in c minor”, composed in 1845, two years before his death.

Concert tickets are $20 at the door one hour before the performance or online: Keystix.com or classicalconcertskw.com. Any questions please call 305.745.2283, Season subscription pass (6 concerts) – $100. Subscription passes can be used for all concerts or for multiple guests at one or more concerts. All students free.