After the heat of Townsville, cellist Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt and violinist Indira Koch take the clan to chilly Canberra.

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Nicholas Milton AM describes Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt as “one of the great cellists of the world” and violinist Indira Koch as a “phenomenal virtuoso”. Two of Germany’s finest musicians, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt and Indira Koch are currently in Australia for a brief tour, having arrived from Berlin at the end of July. Having started at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in the tropical warmth of Townsville, their next stop is Canberra – where frosts cover any washing left on the line overnight – for the CSO’s ActewAGL Llewellyn Series on August 17 and 18.

When compared with other artists of international calibre, a point of difference on Schmidt and Koch’s Australian tour is the entourage. In addition to being instrumentalists at the top of their game, Wolfgang and Indira are also married and are raising enough kids to start a peewee soccer team. They and their four children (which includes twins) are on tour as a family, and in between their formal engagements as stars of the stage, they can...