[for an updating list of concerts and performances, just scroll down]
Must-see concerts don’t exist in the immediate future. There are only can-see concerts, and from the safety of your computer screen.
But before giving a rough road map of our changed options, there are two general things to consider: Whether we’re talking about livestreams performed without an audience (such as Joyce DiDonato singing from her home studio) or curated installments from some starry archive (the Metropolitan Opera), we’re looking at hastily made arrangements (good!) that sometimes have their glitches (that deserve to be overlooked).
More important: With institutions on hiatus, audiences have an influence in maintaining a framework that allows these artists to return to action as soon as all of this is over. On YouTube or Facebook, don’t hesitate to register your likes, thanks, and gratitude — it can matter — and perhaps think twice about asking to be refunded for cancelled concerts.
Many artists are facing lost income — in a life often lived on thin ice. DiDonato championed some relief organizations, such as Artist Relief Tree (artistrelieftree.com). The Actors Fund (actorsfund.org) is also raising money to help everyone impacted in the arts and entertainment industries, and doing so with evening home concerts by Broadway stars (such as Kelli O’Hara) at youtube.com/theactorsfund.
Particular kudos go to TENET, one of the best early-music groups in town, which initially planned to stream its March 21 concert of Schutz’s sublime Musikalische Exequien to ticketholders, who would be given a code to access the without-live-audience event. Well, the concert was later cancelled — though with assurances that the artists are being paid anyway. Whether the concert will be back in better times is hard to say. Maintaining TENET’s standard of performance often involves importing artists with highly specific skills and much advanced planning.
Such are the most lamentable losses, because “hybrid groups” (non-standard ensembles, in other words) are what make New York’s cultural life distinctive. I’m talking about anything from the Maria Vespers (a staged presentation of the Monteverdi Vespers that was coming to Park Avenue Armory opening March 21) to the rare revival of the 1948 Kurt Weill / Alan Jay Lerner experimental Broadway show Love Life (that was to play at the City Center Mar 18–22).
The good thing is that we see some of our favorite artists in adorably unguarded moments. At one point on her livestream on Sunday, DiDonato excused herself amid singing Werther excerpts to wipe her nose (so emotionally taken was she with the music). In his daily house concerts, pianist Igor Levit chose to re-start Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata on firmer footing.
Thank God for Beethoven and the current 250th anniversary year of his birth. Since performances of his music are rehearsed and ready to go, that’s what is most often being heard in the special livestreamed concerts. Beethoven makes you strong.
Here is a digest of events:
[Ed. note: we’ll add more events and streams as we learn about them, so be sure to check back for updates.]
UPDATED March 26:
Hope at Home
Beginning March 25, violinist Daniel Hope will be hosting Hope at Home, a series of 14 half-hour daily livestreams from his 1895 Belle Epoque living room in Berlin, which he’s converted into a studio. Performances will feature other Berlin-based artists and will take place at 1 pm EDT, on the ARTE Concert website (archived for 90 days) and Deutsche Grammophon’s YouTube channel, where selected highlights will subsequently be available.
National Sawdust
Beginning March 30 at noon, the Williamsburg venue will start offering Live@NationalSawdust. This free digital platform will include weekly videos of archived concerts from the past five seasons, and fundraise for the venue and impacted artists. The site will also feature content from the artist mentorship program with artists such as Renée Fleming and Meredith Monk.
Seattle Symphony
The orchestra is offering livestreams and rebroadcasts every Thursday at 7:30 pm PDT (10:30 EDT) and Saturday at 8 pm PDT (11 pm EDT) on YouTube and Facebook. This week (March 26 and 28), tune in for Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. Additionally, for kids, the symphony will offer Meet the Tuba with Principal Tuba John DiCesare on Friday, March 27 at 11 am PDT (2:00 pm EDT. Check seattlesymphony.org/live weekly for schedule updates.
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center at Home is the new online portal through which the institution will be posting a variety of archival and livestream performances. There are also family concerts, as well as the Lincoln Center Pop-Up Classroom, a series of Facebook Live broadcasts every Monday–Friday at 10:00 am ET.
New York Philharmonic
Through its NY Phil Plays On portal (nyphil.org/playson), the orchestra is posting recent and archival performances, episodes of The New York Philharmonic This Week, materials and concerts for children, and special performances by and messages from Philharmonic musicians. Additionally, each Thursday at 7:30 pm EDT, the Philharmonic will post video of a past concert on Facebook — March 26 features Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, and April 2 is Act I of Wagner’s Die Walküre conducted by Jaap van Zweden and with Heidi Melton, Simon O’Neill, and John Relyea.
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s Beethoven 250 Symphony Series [Updated]
COVID-19 is changing things everywhere, rapidly. While just a couple of days ago the Auckland Philharmonia was still planning to live stream all their Beethoven concerts live, those performance have just been cancelled. However, instead they will be streaming performances from their archives starting tomorrow Saturday 21 at 7.30pm (that is 2.30 am (!) EDT – so set your alarm) with Bruch Violin Concerto No.1 [Giordano Bellincampi conductor, James Ehnes violin] and Beethoven Symphony No.6 “Pastoral” conducted by Douglas Boyd. Further performances are on March 24, 26, and 29. You can watch on www.apo.co.nz or www.facebook.com/aporchestra
Music Never Sleeps NYC [March 27, 6pm]
It sounds like a virtual Carnegie Hall gala — and then some. So far, 30-plus artists, from violinist Gil Shaham to composer Nico Muhly, have been organized by cellist Jan Vogler for a 24-hour video marathon that starts at 6 pm on March 27. Because the event is dedicated to observing social distance, it’s a fair guess that the performances will be either solo or small ensemble. Fine with me, when you have the likes of Midori, Jeremy Denk, and Brentano Quartet. The purpose isn’t just to fill the cultural vacuum, but to raise money for any number of charities. Could we have ever envisioned this two weeks ago? The website: musicneversleepsnyc.com, or look for the hashtag #musicneversleepsNYC.
Jazz at Lincoln Center [ongoing]
The venerable jazz institution will be sharing selections from its vast archive online, and, over the coming weeks, Wynton Marsalis will be hosting a series of interactive video chats on Zoom (shared later on Facebook and YouTube). Additionally, the organization’s Jazz Academy will be available on a dedicated YouTube channel. Visit jazz.org for more information.
Caramoor
The Caramoor Livestream will present performances from the venue’s beautiful Music Room while Caramoor is closed for public performances. First up is an archival broadcast of November’s sold-out Thalea String Quartet performance (Sunday, March 22 at 3 pm). The livestreams begin in April: Vijay Iyer (Saturday, April 4 at 8 pm), Aaron Diehl Trio (Saturday, April 18 at 8 pm), and Conrad Tao (Sunday, April 26 at 3 pm).
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center [Daily at 12.30pm]
For the duration of its shutdown, Chamber Music Society will be streaming a curated selection of its programs from its archive — including performances, lectures, and family programs — every day at 12:30 pm on its website, chambermusicsociety.org. Additionally, it will be offering online learning activities for teachers and students, and livestream the family program Meet the Music!Inspector Pulse Pops a String on Sunday, April 5, at 2:00 pm.
Les Siècles [March 14]
The most impressive livestreamed concert without audience, so far, is François-Xavier Roth conducting Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 on March 14 at l’Opéra Royal de Versailles. The performances on historically-informed instruments have an energy and security that eclipse what I heard from John Eliot Gardiner’s like-minded Beethoven cycle earlier this year at Carnegie Hall. And it’s always great to glimpse Versailles.
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Those who thought that Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s Beethoven cycle at Carnegie Hall would be luxuriously retro will get quite a surprise from this March 12 no-audience performance from Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center. Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 5 and 6 were performed not as opposite sides of the coin, but as kindred spirits. In fact, the Pastoral Symphony was a tough as any I’ve ever heard. Expect chamber music concerts from Philadelphia in the coming days; the website is philorch.org. In the meantime, the full-orchestra concert can be found here.
Igor Levit
This strong-minded 33-year-old German / Russian pianist who recently recorded the complete Beethoven piano sonatas is giving daily concerts on his Twitter feed — twitter.com/igorpianist— often playing Beethoven, but not always. He’s a fascinating camera presence: compact, intelligent and profoundly focused. Performances have been more intense than his recordings. And that’s pretty intense.
Joyce DiDonato
With only a phone and a laptop, mezzo-soprano DiDonato and tenor Piotr Beczala sang 90 minutes of excerpts from Werther on Sunday as compensation for their Metropolitan Opera run, which was to start on Monday. It’s a full-out performance — which is what I’m hearing a lot of these days since the artists don’t know when they will be performing next. With DiDonato’s buoyant presence, I think I’ll be revisiting this one often in future days.
The Crossing
This new-music chamber choir just inaugurated a day-by-day series of musical postings titled Rising w/ the Crossing, and they promise to be chosen with the utmost sensitivity. Example: Monday, March 16, was a movement from David Lang’s the little match girl passion with the following program note: “It is transparent, exposed, and fragile, and, as such, requires that the community bind together, cede to a greater whole, and breathe as one.” Thank you! If you’re on The Crossing’s email list, you’re already receiving daily installments. If not, try #ComeHearNow. Tuesday’s installment by Greg Spears is 'The Tower and The Garden'.
New York Festival of Song
One can’t live on Beethoven alone. The New York Festival of Song’s Art of Pleasure program was beamed from Caramoor’s Rosen House music room — nice atmosphere — with a program ranging from Léhar to Lehrer. It’s a polished, multi-camera effort with young singers and Steven Blier having a blast.
Pavel Šporcl
This charisma-oozing Czech violinist, a star in Europe, is giving a series of “Concerts from the Living Room,” the next one being this Wednesday, March 18. The repertoire isn’t heavyweight, but his kind of energy truly jumps over the web. The concerts require paid admission, but don’t be spooked by the charge of 150 Czech koruna. It comes out to about $6.
Berlin Philharmonic [ongoing]
The famous Digital Concert Hall is free for a month or so, and it really is one of the glories of the symphonic world, with the “vineyard seating” of the Berlin Philharmonie and, of course, the legendary orchestra. I’m not sure where to start with recommendations from its 600 concerts, but it’s good way to get to know the new music director Kirill Petrenko. If you’re asked for a code, it’s BERLINPHIL.
The Metropolitan Opera [Daily, 7.30pm]
With its extensive library of video opera, The Met is streaming one at 7:30 pm each night on its website, metopera.org— though for best quality, the company advises the use of one of its apps (Apple, Google). Each opera will be available for 20 hours. So far, here is the schedule and it looks like all peaks, no valleys: Il Trovatore with Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovsky March 18, La Traviata with Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Flórez, and Quinn Kelsey March 19, Daughter of the Regiment with Natalie Dessay and Florez March 20, Lucia di Lammermoor with Netrebko March 21, and Eugene Onegin starring Renee Fleming and Hvorostovsky March 22.
92nd Street Y
Having already livestreamed an audience-less recital by pianist Garrick Ohlsson, the 92nd St. Y will have mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and pianist Myra Huang singing a weighty program including Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Ruckert-Lieder at 7:30 pm, March 18. The website offers an extra perk: A reminder notification, which helps amid these distracted times.
Cologne Philharmonie
This modern concert hall has long been exceptionally savvy about video matters, and on Sunday, it streamed a live-without-audience performance of Bach’s St. John Passion by Bach Collegium Japan under Masaaki Suzuki. The opening chorus, alone, captured the covert agitation that is so widely felt these days. And since Germans are reputedly thorough, the performers even received bouquets at the end.
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Conductor Iván Fischer is having a series of “Quarantine Soirees” from the orchestra’s rehearsal hall. The repertoire for the March 18 and 19 chamber music concerts is a bit obscure — pieces by Leclair and Haydn that I’ve never heard — but we don’t want to hear the same old thing all of the time, do we?
Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild
This mail-order operation specializes in brainy gag gifts, and has come forward with a typical suggestion: Do-it-yourself puppet shows. Here’s their blurb: “There’s already a Hamilton musical and an Einstein opera but how about an oratorio about that time Beethoven took a road trip with Angelou?” One assumes they have the proper puppets available.
Also:
Through April 19: Bayerische Staatsoper is streaming opera and ballet.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s archives are free to access for a month.
