Author: Joanna Bettelheim

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt was interviewed on April 6 by Inés Martín Rodrigo for the Spanish newspaper ABC, speaking about the arts during the time of coronavirus. The interview was translated and published in Monday’s (4/13) English-language Estonian World (Tallinn, Estonia), and excerpted here. “Q: What role do the arts play as networks of social connections and reference points defining our identity in the current global crisis that we are undergoing? Pärt:What is happening in the world today forces us all to make sacrifices…. It is like a ‘total fasting’ for the whole world…. Any adversity makes artists move closer to what is important, essential. Q: What is the most important lesson that we should learn from these restrictions? Pärt: This tiny coronavirus has showed us in a painful way that humanity is a single organism and human existence is possible only in relation to other living beings…. While isolating ourselves, we should … appreciate our relationships in a small circle and tend to them…. In a way, the coronavirus has sent us all back to first grade. Only once we’ve passed this test can we begin to think about the next steps. This is a very long process.”

“The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has told its musicians that they will be stood down without pay next week,” writes Nick Miller in Tuesday’s (4/14) The Age (Australia). “The MSO will keep only ‘essential’ employees on staff during the lockdown, MSO chair Michael Ullmer said in a letter sent to employees on Tuesday, and these would take a 20 per cent salary cut…. The MSO intends to bring back all employees including the musicians once the crisis is over, a spokeswoman said…. The MSO [faced] a flood of cancellations and no-shows at its Chinese New Year concert in early February…. When the state enforced a 500 capacity limit for events in mid-March the MSO cancelled its season. The MSO board met on Monday and concluded their financial situation ‘continues to deteriorate.’ … The MSO said it would also keep paying musicians’ superannuation [retirement fund]. The musician stand-down will take effect on Monday—12 administrative staff have already been stood down. The MSO is in the process of applying for access to the JobKeeper employee support scheme, however it said the process ‘may involve some delay’ and payments would not start to flow through until the end of April.”

“The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has cancelled the rest of its 2019-2020 season as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, with some programs being postponed to the 2020/21 season,” writes Garnet Fraser in Tuesday’s (4/14) Toronto Star (Canada). “The move wasn’t unexpected—the city has cancelled all permits for large civic events until June 30, three days after the scheduled end of the concert season, suggesting that the prohibition on gatherings might well last that long. ‘The cancellation of a third of our season is devastating in so many ways,’ said TSO CEO Matthew Loden. ‘As distressing as the loss of our season is, we remain humbled by all those who continue to serve our community through essential services such as supporting front-line health-care workers, food banks and isolated seniors. In our own way, we will continue to try and serve our community through the elevating power of music—virtually.’ TSO musicians have been collaborating at a distance online and sharing the results with listeners in recent weeks. Most recently the brass section and soprano Measha Brueggergosman performed ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ and dedicated the result on YouTube to isolated seniors.”

“The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is celebrating a rare arts organization win, rescinding layoffs that were announced April 1 because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” writes Stuart Derdeyn in Wednesday’s (4/15) Vancouver Sun (Canada). “VSO president and CEO Angela Elster and board chair Etienne Bruson said Wednesday the orchestra now expects to meet the goal of maintaining employment for musicians and staff to the end of the 2019-20 season in June. VSO is investing an additional $287,000 as well as utilizing the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy program to achieve its goal. Recent virtual performances of the orchestra performing Beethoven’s 5th and 6th symphonies gained over 120,000 views, and the orchestra is exploring ways to increase its online offerings via its VSO@Home series.”

A vote for Brahms as the composer best suited to our current moment

“My mother, the mineralogist Daphne Ross, died on February 24th, at the age of ninety-one,” writes Alex Ross in Thursday’s (4/16) New Yorker. “Unable to sleep … I turned to Brahms because I always turn to Brahms…. I find him the most companionable, the most sympathetic of composers. There is enormous sadness in his work, and yet it is a sadness that glows with understanding, that eases gloom by sharing its own. The music seems in a strange way to be listening to you, even as you listen to it. At a time when an uncommonly large number of people are experiencing grief, I recommend Brahms as a counsellor and confidant.… The Intermezzo Opus 117, No. 1 begins with a lullaby of heartbreaking simplicity and purity, but it gives way to a middle section of brooding, bass-excavating arpeggios, and when the lullaby returns it is embroidered, dispersed, distanced from reality. Before the final cadence, it comes to a halt, as if silently shuddering…. Last Christmas, … I played a few CDs for my mother [including] Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet… Her head tilted to the side, her eyes twinkled, her mouth worked itself into a smile…. We listened together, and Brahms listened to us both.”

Composer Lisa Bielawa is asking the public to submit testimonies about their own experience of the coronavirus crisis for Broadcast from Home, a new work she writing. Bielawa will be selecting testimonies to set to music that she will compose in response to the texts. The public will also be invited to perform Bielawa’s music, and the project will eventually culminate in a series of 20- to 30-minute participatory musical performances for an unlimited number of singers and instruments. The Kaufman Music Center in New York City is partnering with Bielawa on the project, providing production support. Bielawa’s students from the Mannes School of Music at the New School and students from Kaufman Music Center’s Lucy Moses School, Special Music School, and Face the Music programs will participate as instrumentalists and vocalists. Bielawa says, “It is not clear to what degree and for how long various communities will be suffering from the isolation of lock-down, social distancing and quarantine. People’s need for community is a constant, and the architecture of Broadcast from Home is designed to effect communal healing in changing circumstances.” Testimonies can be submitted in writing or as recorded spoken word at Bielawa’s website, www.lisabielawa.com/broadcast-from-home.

“Last week, on what was meant to be Opening Day at Fenway Park, Josh Kantor leaned over the organ in his living room and kicked into a textbook rendition of ‘Take Me Out To the Ball Game,’ ” writes Geoff Edgers in Tuesday’s (4/7) Washington Post. “Then he looked up at his iPhone…. In late March, with the [baseball] season put on pause due to coronavirus concerns, he decided he would try a single video stream from behind his Yamaha Electone and leave it at that. But the online response convinced him to come back the next day…. ‘7th-Inning Stretch’ … airs daily at 3 p.m. as Kantor, aided by his wife, Mary Eaton, takes requests, offers music-and-baseball-related anecdotes and taps into a reservoir of songs that range from Motown and polkas to the Clash and Replacements…. Eaton [is] an ordained minister whose congregation is Boston’s homeless community…. During broadcasts, Kantor makes a pitch for donations to feedingamerica.org.… On consecutive days, Kantor opened with songs by Bill Withers, who died of heart issues, and Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, who died after contracting the coronavirus…. ‘People need this,’ ex-Pogues bassist Cáit O’Riordan said.”

“The BBC has announced it will press ahead with the Proms despite coronavirus threatening the 125-year-old musical tradition,” write Craig Simpson in Friday’s (4/10) Daily Telegraph (London). “Concerts have been performed in the summer season since 1895.… All the pomp and circumstance of the Proms may go ahead in a different form for its 125th anniversary year, the BBC has said. Season announcements have been postponed and tickets will not go on sale as planned as the safety of audiences is prioritized. But the broadcaster … is considering options to ensure the show goes on. These could include streaming or going ahead in a more traditional way should the national lockdown be lifted in time for the July opening night. The BBC hopes to have a plan in place for its classical music showpiece by the end of May. A statement from the BBC said: … ‘We are still hoping that the Proms will be part of the summer this year, although that will involve adapting and changing the festival we originally planned.’ … The BBC is developing plans based on the latest Government guidance, and remains flexible in terms of how it will produce the latest annual show.”