New York orchestra hits the streets

– Its autumn season has been cancelled and its concert hall closed indefinitely, so New York’s Philharmonic is taking it to the streets.

One of America’s oldest musical institutions, the famed symphony orchestra is playing outdoor pop-up shows, getting creative during the coronavirus pandemic that has kept concert halls closed and New Yorkers starved for live music.

Each weekend, small ensembles play at surprise locations throughout the city, wearing T-shirts and masks in front of a pickup truck dubbed the “bandwagon”.

Sometimes musicians get rained on or people just walk on by – but sometimes a nearby delivery truck honks along in exactly the right key.

In those moments, says opera singer and series producer Anthony Roth Costanzo, “it feels like the city is our orchestra and we’re the soloists”.

The countertenor said after performing a set in Brooklyn’s Betty Carter Park: “In this moment of pandemic, in this moment of social change, we’re exploring new ways together... to connect to people and to realise that we have to reinvent the concert-going ritual.”

“It’s not just about bringing people into our house. It’s about getting our house out in the world, and sharing what music can do.”

On a balmy Friday evening, Roth Costanzo and a string duet – Quan Ge on violin and Cong Wu on viola – drew a socially distanced crowd to their show that began with Mozart’s Allegro in G Major and wrapped with the classic New York ballad Somewhere from West Side Story.– AFP