Isaac Stern in Australia
Fine Music Magazine
On one occasion in 1954, at an inadequately heated Sydney Town Hall, Isaac Stern, playing a “great deal of Bach”, had to rush backstage between every movement to immerse his hands in hot water. Despite this and the fact that, at another concert, proceedings were temporarily halted by a chirping cricket, Mary Cleveland, wife of the US consul, felt that attending all eight of Stern’s Sydney concerts “was one of the great musical experiences” of her life.
