Apart from managing to raise $14,000 by intermission for Médecins Sans Frontières, one might say that the fundraiser at the Wollongong Town Hall broke one or two other records, not least my own by attending my first concert after the pandemic - which was, as we know, also a troubling and traumatic time for young people just starting out that in many ways is still unfolding for them.
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But then, given Thursday night's concert, I wonder if some of its unpredictable effects might have had a creatively galvanising effect.
Certainly, this marvellous concert was a testimony to something chrysalis-like in its youthful elan and artistry. Silver linings perhaps.
Following a deep Welcome to Country from Dr Jodi Edwards, the MC, Malika Reese, alluded to the transcendent power of music - and she foretold accurately in this instance.
The spirited orchestral opening items showcased the WollCon Bluescope Youth Orchestra with a dynamic program of works by composers Khachaturian, Vanhal, Dvorak, Mascagni, and contemporary Bregovic, which were delivered with a youthful bravura attesting to the maturity, discipline and talent of these young performers under the baton of their conductor and musical director, Nigel Edwards.
Notwithstanding the proudly appreciative audience of this talented youth orchestra, it was the spellbinding duo performance by pianist, Simon Tedeschi, and the young violinist, Cedar Newman, that - almost unfairly - transported the packed auditorium into something rarefied and powerful. It became in some ineffable sense, a masterclass.
Despite their significant age difference, this was a flawless performance by two virtuosos which, through a shared perfectionism of technique and meticulous collaboration, achieved moments of exquisite grace and beauty.
Together they articulated a mutual commitment to demonstrating that the most intimidating frontiers and borders can be navigated, and that what makes great music possible is not just talent, nor the hours, days, and years of dedicated toil, nor the overcoming of stage nerves, but a capacity for humility and generosity.
In this way these two wonderful musicians distilled all that had gone before, and channelled the creative outpourings of difficult composers to reveal their great works to us.
In this spirit, Newman and Tedeschi's chosen program was an eminently thoughtful one. Though demanding for those expecting, or perhaps more comfortable with, the classical repertoire, it was thrillingly accessible, segueing seamlessly from Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Piano to Jascha Heifetz's gorgeously jazzy arrangements of five songs from Porgy and Bess after a short intermission.
The duo concluded their program with the hauntingly melodic and beautiful - and apparently rarely performed - Sonata No.2 for Violin and Piano by Ernst Bloch.
In her brief introduction to the work, Newman mentioned that it was a recent discovery she found irresistible. Certainly, what drew her to the work was fully justified; she performed this complex work like a swooping angel, with her colleague in perfect sympathy,
Throughout the performances of the two sonatas - both being modern restructurings of classical form - the interwoven textures and melodic lines of Newman and Tedeschi's instrumental parts coalesced as one, never to be parted for the remainder of the performance.
Their chosen encore, Szymanowski's Nocturne and Tarantella - jokingly introduced by Tedeschi as more of a sonata for piano and violin, such were deemed its physical demands on his "old back" - was no small farewell but another unforgettable moment of glorious, double-stopping, heart-stopping music-making.
I felt privileged to witness the mutual respect shared by these two artists (who came perilously close to a big hug at their last deep bows!) and their manifest joy in performing these monumental works together.
My only gripe is that Mr Tedeschi did not wear tails, and Ms Newman did not sweep up her mane and borrow from Anne-Sophie Mutter's wardrobe of red gowns ("they go with my Strad"), if only to gild with superfluous bling this dazzling lily of a world-class performance.
It is difficult for a non-musician to describe the emotional rush of being relieved of one's critical factors by the generosity and purity of music-making like this. Not intending to write a review I took no notes. But I knew from the first opening phrases that this performance was going to be special.
And I suspect that the packed Wollongong Town Hall - where you could hear a pin drop - similarly intuited, as I did, the emergence of a great young talent for whom her grandmother's violin is her Strad: an instrument of pure expression which, happily for us all, she has adopted as her first language.
