Enzo and Stewart from Duo Piccole E Grande

As we walked in to The Lincoln Drill Hall on a lazy Saturday lunchtime the venue, atmosphere and decor let us know we were in for an intimate relaxing and mellow performance.

The crowd was small – consisting of only 17 people – but this didn’t seem to faze the duo as they set up the stage with an air of experience and interacted with the crowd.

As soon as the clock struck 12, the two began their performance.

Starting off with a Roberto Valentini-composed piece, Enzo and Stewart had the audience captivated as they skillfully played their musial instruments – the Mandolin and Theorbo respectively.

Continuing through the set to play Tambourins I & II, Sonata Prima and Sonata, the room filled with the tremendously soothing sounds of baroque music.

After part one of their performance was over the duo took a break and answered questions from the audience about their instruments and song choices. The audience, although few in number, seemed enthralled and entertained as the pair spoke.

Onto the second set and the ‘hurdy-gurdy’ took centre stage as beautiful percussion met keyboard and bow. In this set they played another three pieces and as the crowd began to increase the performers seemed to relax, even when one of the instruments began to ‘play up,’ they maintained their air of professionalism.

Having played all over the world independently the couple were not short of experience and when Stewart informed me us he was to be playing in Riga, the capital of Latvia, within a weeks time, he was more excited than nervous.

It was an honour to have experienced the set conducted by ‘Duo Piccole E Grande’ and given a moment’s breath I’d jump at the chance to see them again.

The Drill Hall really does showcase some exceptional talent and I cannot wait for the Jazz performance next week.

What do you think, were you there? Tweet us @AltLinc or use #DrillHallMusic