With COVID-19 completely taking away any possibility of having live performances for the foreseeable future, the classical music world has been changed. For a live performance art form, not having the capability to play for live audiences severely subtracts from the experience. This pandemic serves not only as a bitter reminder of the financial fragility of classical music but also a reflection on why we dedicate our lives to pursue this art form. When the virus first started spreading in the states, I saw countless organizations and orchestras go bankrupt within the first month of not having live performances. Musicians were being fired/laid off and were left with a non-existent job market.
But within the month, there was a explosion of online concerts and despite the empty concert halls that were silently collecting dust, the internet was being saturated by beautiful music from musicians all around the world. The response from the community was amazing and the financial support given to many of the struggling artists was heart warming. I don't think online concerts can in anyway replace a live performance but until this pandemic is over, its the best way to share our music.
A few weeks ago I met up with some friends to rehearse and prepare a program of chamber music. We had gotten a couple requests to play a concert at my parent's church and my friend's house. After not really touching my cello for almost a month, it felt like a breath of fresh air. My body felt extremely uncomfortable playing the instrument again but there is so much joy and gratitude to be able to do what you love, with people you love.
Our Program for the concerts was:
J.S. Bach, Cantata 25
Joseph Haydn, String Quartet Op 64, No. 2
Antonín Dvořák, String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major
Our first concert was at my parent's church but because of the sudden rise of infections in Los Angeles, the church decided to make it a virtual concert.
Soundcheck break
While sound checking, I realized that the auditorium we were playing in was not great for string instruments. It felt like our sound dissipated the moment it left our instruments. Despite sitting only a few feet away from each other, I had to strain to hear the other instruments in the quartet. There was a serious lack of clarity so instead of having room mics we setup individual mics for each instrument. It felt weird "performing" for an empty room, it was essentially a glorified recording session with no retakes.
The 2 violinists in the quartet staring each other down.
Our next concert had a live audience and was in the backyard of my friend's house. There was an audience of around 30 people.
setting up
We needed to setup the chairs accordingly to social distance rules, so we used a ruler to make sure everyone was sitting 6 feet away from each other. A lot of the chairs are in pairs because of couples.
We made sure that everyone was wearing masks and following proper protocol to ensure the safety of everyone there. It was quite the experience performing with masks. After the 1st movement of Haydn, I was already sweating profusely into the inside of the mask...it was quite moist by the end of the performance. It felt wonderful to share music again and the audience loved every moment of it.
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