Wednesday, 21.06.: The trip to Hamburg could begin. 20 beaming faces were ready for the concert, which was to take place in the Laeiszhalle that evening. After an uncomplicated train journey and a delicious dinner, the concert began. The uncertainty of the program kept the audience in suspense until the very last moment. The first half of the concert began with the rarely performed piece by Robert Schumann - a quintet consisting of two grand pianos, two cellos and a horn. Martha Argerich and Daniil Trifonov sat at the pianos, performing together for the first time. The following duo, Martha Argerich and Sergei Babayan, who have played together since childhood, played the first movement of Mozart's Sonata in D major for two pianos. The pianos were moved several times for this. The rest of the evening was filled with the sounds of Rachmaninov by the student-teacher duo, Trifonov and Babayan. The concert ended in a standing ovation and left an inspiring, motivating and unforgettable impression.

The next day, we continued on to the Steinway & Sons factory, where we were given an exciting tour of the grand piano-making process. The insight into the many different work steps and details made us appreciate and value our instrument even more.
In the afternoon, the return journey began without any problems... but suddenly we were stuck in Celle for an "indefinite period of time". After about an hour, we reached our early final destination: Hanover. Due to the storm, we finally had no choice but to spend another night outside of Würzburg. Although frustration was high, everyone took it in good humor. Thanks to the responsible reaction of our professor Ms. Mirabela Dina and her call to a hotel, we were spared an overnight stay on the train.

Despite the uncertainty the next morning, we braved the rainy walk to the station. After the three-hour journey, everyone arrived safely and reasonably dry in Würzburg. The excursion was a great success and served as a tremendous inspiration in our studies.
We would like to thank our accompanying lecturers, Prof. Mirabela Dina and Prof. Martin Dombrowski, and above all Michael Gerecke, who initiated the excursion and was responsible for the entire organization.

Authors: Students of the piano specialist group