“Hearing the Kansas City Symphony conducted by Michael Stern in the acoustically superb Helzberg Hall is something no Kansas City lover will ever take for granted again,” writes Patrick News in Friday’s (5/29) Kansas City Star (MO). “We all long to hear our beloved orchestra thrill our spirits and touch our hearts once again. But is going back to a pre-pandemic ‘normal’ even possible? … Stern is a realist and believes … ‘we have to prepare ourselves for something else because it’s not going to go back to normal,’ says Stern. ‘At least not for a while.’ One thing that concerns Stern is what he calls ‘the psychology of coming together.’ … There are many more considerations than just making sure it’s safe for the orchestra to play and making sure there are four seats between each audience member.… Until live performances become a possibility, the Kansas City Symphony is pulling out all the stops to provide lots of online content to its patrons…. ‘We are trying to figure things out, but we’re also going methodically step by step,’ Stern said. ‘We’re not taking direction from trends and pressure. We want to do the responsible thing for everyone’s safety and the health of the organization.”
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