“Those planning to watch the Toledo Symphony Orchestra concerts this weekend will find a pair of realities at work. The first is the lineup itself … including George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue,” writes Mike Pearson in Thursday’s (11/5) Blade (Toledo, OH). “The second reality might be called ‘the foreseeable future.’ Thanks to pandemic distancing, there will be no more than 25 musicians onstage, out of the usual 65, and the audience at the Peristyle will be limited to 225 ticket-holders, in a venue that seats 1,700. … Like an increasing number of orchestras across the country the TSO has begun live streaming its concerts [which] allows for more intimate access to the performers. Five cameras are employed, three of which are robotic and remotely operated….. All Toledo Symphony concerts will be staged both in-person and virtually through the end of the year …. ‘It’s a little bit like playing for a live TV audience and for TV at the same time,’ ” says pianist Michael Chertock, the soloist in Rhapsody in Blue. The concerts, led by guest conductor Andrew Grams, will also feature George Walker’s Lyric For Strings and Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Appalachian Spring.
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