“It would be tough to come up with a season theme more fitting for the pandemic era than Springfield Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Comfort Food,’ ” writes Jan Peterson in Friday’s (1/) Springfield News-Leader (Missouri). “Saturday’s installment is ‘Smorgasbord,’ featuring Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 and Debussy’s Prelude to the ‘Afternoon of a Faun.’… Despite a solid idea for the season, COVID-19 put into question whether there would be a season at all. ‘With planning the season, we had to pivot,’ says Jennifer Cotner-Jones, the symphony’s executive director. ‘We had to cancel March, April and May.’ If performances could continue, they had to figure out how they do so safely…. While Pickett worked with the musicians, Cotner-Jones worked closely with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department on how to safely offer live performances…. Cotner-Jones says patron support was tremendous…. [Symphony Marketing Manager Lexi] Locke and others [figured] out how to handle livestreaming of the event…. Locke says they researched about a dozen platforms and sought recommendations from other orchestras and the League of American Orchestras…. ‘Even some of our ticketholders have gone home to watch the livestream after they’ve been to a live performance,’ Locke says.”
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