In 1999 during a lunchtime concert in Amsterdam, Riccardo Chailly started conducting the first bar of Mozart's piano concerto no 20 in D minor. It's when Maria João Pires started panicking or what Chailly described as an "electric shock." She had learnt the wrong concerto; it's worse than not knowing an answer to a question in the final examination — you can't just make stuff up and you certainly don't get marks for getting a step right. In a minute, she recuperated and started to play, without skipping a single note.

Two decades later, the episode is still subject to gasps at Pires' genius. Her extraordinary talent blossomed early on. Born in Lisbon, she played her first recital when she was five. That's why it pained many to hear her announce her retirement in 2018, citing the piano as the main cause; she said that she never had a good relationship with it. Surprisingly, in a year, she came out of retirement and will perform twice at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) for the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) Spring 2020 season.