Anton Kuerti and his son, Julian, basked in the applause of a Boston Symphony Orchestra audience on March 11 after the father performed as a last-minute replacement.

Anton Kuerti will remember March 11 and 12, 2008 for a long, long time.

The Austrian-born Kuerti, one of Canada's most celebrated interpreter of Beethoven's piano music, was in Boston on March 11 to see his son Julian conducting the last of four concerts featuring Dvorak's Symphony No. 7 and the Emperor Concerto (No. 5 in E flat). Featured soloist Leon Fleisher had played the first three performances, but became sick just before the final night. About 6 p.m. on the night of the 11th, Julian Kuerti called his father, who was staying across town.

Anton Kuerti, 69, had last performed the concerto Nov. 8, 2007, with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in Toronto. He and his son had performed it once before, at the Brott Music Festival in Hamilton in 2006. The two had time only to talk through how they would perform the piece, and the father spent about an hour practising backstage at Symphony Hall - taking a short break to hear what he could of his son conducting the Dvorak symphony.

The result, judging by the audience's tumultuous applause: complete success. Anton received a prolonged standing ovation.

Then the next day, the pianist was announced as the winner of a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award as part of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards program.

Kuerti will receive the $25,000 prize during a three-day celebration in Ottawa, May 1-3. The awards ceremony will be held May 2 at Rideau Hall.