“Right now on a typical fall day, people would be … tailgating at football games or attending the season opening of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra concert series,” writes Clifton Noble Jr. in Sunday’s (9/27) Republican (Springfield, MA). But due to the COVID pandemic, “There is no clear sense of when SSO musicians can once again … perform before a live audience…. The SSO had hoped to schedule some chamber music concerts for a limited audience [but the SSO] ‘couldn’t make sense of making a concert work with only 50 people,’ Executive Director Susan Beaudry said…. SSO musicians are paid on a per-service basis … so … ‘in March when this thing broke out we quickly responded to the musicians’ needs by putting together our Musicians Relief Fund,’ she said…. While the SSO has not yet ventured into the world of virtual performance, Beaudry said a ‘virtual opening night’ has been discussed.” Says Beaudry, “We’ve embarked on a strategic plan talking about some big issues going forward—our mission, vision, and values, our business model, where to play, to whom, and what…. We want to come out of it strong, with a clear sense of how we keep going.”
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