The pandemic has put significant speed bumps into launching a new music director, but orchestras are rising to the challenge. Despite constantly changing health protocols and travel restrictions, orchestras—and their incoming music directors—are staying connected by adopting new technology, experimenting with repertoire, and finding ways to make music while keeping everyone safe.
Symphonic blockbusters are being swapped out for chamber-sized works as orchestras adapt to pandemic health guidelines. Fresh discoveries abound—for musicians, orchestras, and audiences.
Emerging artists—the young musicians who burst onto the orchestra scene every year—face unprecedented challenges as they start careers at a time when most in-person performances are off the table. Simultaneously, the country’s reckoning with racism is resonating with these young musicians, who are re-envisioning their musical careers and their role as artists and activists.
Thrilling sound is one of the defining characteristics of orchestra concerts. But the pandemic has reordered priorities: outdoor performances and safety protocols like masks and distancing require new approaches to acoustics.
2020 was a year like no other: the pandemic, America’s long-overdue reckoning with race, financial downturns, starkly divided politics. Facing COVID-19 shutdowns and stringent health regulations, orchestras found innovative ways to keep the music playing—even while reexamining their roles in a changing society.
Orchestras and scientists are joining forces to study the spread of the coronavirus so they can bring back live music— safely. These collaborations are part of the innovative approaches orchestras are taking on multiple fronts during the pandemic.
As the country copes with the pandemic and faces a longoverdue reckoning with racism, orchestras are seeking fresh ways to forge genuine connections with communities. How can orchestras collaborate with public education and community partners and offer social-emotional support and engagement? The League’s “New Ecosystem for Community-Centered Commitments” webinar gathered experts to propose new directions.
The COVID-19 crisis and the national focus on racial justice have profoundly affected conversations around governance, with new calls for equity, diversity, and inclusion on boards and at orchestras.
As orchestras grapple with the financial and organizational challenges of recalibrating their business models for a post-pandemic world, compelling opportunities to rethink relationships with local communities and society itself are emerging. – Simon Woods, League President and CEO
The Volunteer Council of the League of American Orchestras looks at how volunteer organizations are tweaking traditions and holding firm as they continue to support their communities during this time of uncertainty, with special emphasis on ways these organizations have changed and adapted with respect to holding meetings, fundraising, and engaging and communicating with their members.