When Musica Viva Artistic Director Paul Kildea first heard a 1998 recording of Jean-Guihen Queyras performing Benjamin Britten’s cello suites he knew that some day he had to book him for a tour.

“This disc swept away its predecessors – including to my mind the outstanding recordings made by Rostropovich under the composer’s supervision. It was so intimate, so tender, so effortlessly playful yet virtuosic.”

Fast forward more than 20 years and Kildea has got his wish with the Frenchman appearing in a series of seven concerts, with the added bonus of a second cellist in the exciting young Swiss-based Australian James Morley and Japanese-born koto master Satsuki Odamura forming an unlikely trio that probably shouldn’t have worked but did – resoundingly so.

James Morley, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Satsuki Odamura: Silk, Metal, Wood. Photo © Annalise Maurer

Two cello masterworks were the pillars of this recital. The three musicians entered the unlit stage and then a subtly dramatic spotlight fell on Queyras as the familiar opening bars of the prelude from J.S. Bach’s Suite No 1 – surely the most famous cello tune of them all – floated over the audience and...