Yesterday I went to a concert in memory of the Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh who founded the International Musicians’ Seminars in Prussia Cove, which I attended as a student for many years. Vegh died on 7 January 1997 and for the past few years, a group of string players from various countries have assembled in Cornwall in early January to rehearse and perform a programme in his memory. This year they repeated the concert at a private house in London too. All of yesterday’s performers had been students of Vegh in the 1970s and 80s and clearly still felt that he was an enduring influence on their music-making.

The room was packed, and although we’re in the middle of the season of colds and flu, there wasn’t a single cough from the audience during the concert. In fact, when I had my eyes closed I could imagine I was the only listener in the room.