When audience members and fellow musicians step in to save a concert

In Sydney a 21-year-old university student, Sterling Nasa, stepped in when the band’s keyboardist fell ill during a live screening of La La Land with orchestra. Conductor Justin Hurwitz asked the audience if there was “a pianist in the house”; Nasa performed the entire second half, improvised a solo and kept tempo and key unchanged.

Classical concerts have their own rescue stories. In the summer of 1974 at the Proms, Thomas Allen fainted during Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana; André Previn continued and a recent graduate, Patrick McCarthy, who had been following the score in the Royal Albert Hall, was recruited backstage, given a dinner jacket and took the solo.

The BBC did not tell Radio 3 listeners at the time, though his mother recognised his voice; the TV broadcast made him a national story and the experience convinced him to pursue singing.

Australia, Sydney

sterling nasa, sydney, justin hurwitz, lalaland, improvised solo, orchestra, carmina burana, thomas allen, andre previn, patrick mccarthy