Live classical music returns for select, in- person audience
Symphony, opera performers take the stage — outside
In Pittsburgh, trumpets are sounding once more.
After a six- month hiatus, members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Opera have returned to the stage — not at Heinz Hall or the Benedum Center, but at a new, mobile outdoor stage purchased during the COVID- 19 pandemic by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Sunday’s was the first installment of the ballet’s Open Air Series, with the stage planted in the parking lot of the company’s Strip District location.
The evening kicked off with the Pittsburgh Cello Quartet, which comprises four of the symphony’s cellists, performing music by Saint- Saens, Bach and Carlos Gardel. Musicians, staff and audience members alike wore masks and socially distanced at the invitation- only event, which drew a crowd of around 50.
The cellists were electronically amplified, and their sounds soared through the Strip, turning the heads of passersby.
“We’re so thrilled they’re back to playing live music,” said Monica Hertzman, a subscriber of both Pittsburgh Opera and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
The O’Hara resident said that while she has been enthusiastically tuning in to the organizations’ various digital offerings, she was relieved to hear live music in person once more.
After the cellists, four members of the PSO’s brass section delivered a smattering of Renaissance music, spaced a little bit farther apart given the nature of the instruments and current thinking on the way the coronavirus is transmitted.
Researchers worldwide are investigating whether singers and wind instrumentalists are at greater risk of spreading the virus. There aren’t conclusive results yet, as such research is difficult to model and replicate.
Pittsburgh Opera provided a pair of singers: the resident artist and baritone Yazid Gray and Danielle Pastin, the former resident artist turned internationally renowned soloist. Mark Trawka, the Pittsburgh Opera’s director of musical studies, accompanied at the keyboard as the performers launched into arias with gusto.
“I’m so, so glad to be singing for an actual live audience again,” Mr. Gray said, bowing to cheers and applause.
There have been ad hoc performances in various parks in neighborhoods around the city. But given Allegheny County’s strict gathering- size limits, organizations have been hardpressed to find a way to bring music back to the public.
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Open Air Series represents one possible avenue; drive- in theaters, like City Theatre’s new outdoor space at Hazelwood Green, are another. Members of the PSO also performed at Hazelwood Green on Sunday and will do so again Wednesday evening as part of City Theatre’s Drive- In Arts Festival.
Pittsburgh Opera will launch its reimagined season in October, with small live audiences at its Strip
District headquarters, county regulations permitting.
The triumph of Sunday’s performance is bittersweet, however, as the
Pittsburgh Symphony only recently announced further salary cuts for musicians and staff and layoffs for the staff.
Around the country, 73% of Americans who consider classical music their favorite genre are extremely worried about their favorite organization’s financial status, according to newly released research by the classical streaming platform Primephonic.
Other takeaways from the study, conducted by market research company YouGov, include the fact that about 45% of classical fans could feel comfortable attending a show in person this year and that 68% of respondents have not attended a livestreamed event since the pandemic began.
“It’s about time they got back to live performances,” said Bill Neal, Ms. Hertzman’s father, who also subscribes to both the symphony and the opera.
Mr. Neal also tuned in to some of the orchestra’s ongoing digital offerings, but he voiced what has become a constant refrain since live events were shut down: “There’s nothing like hearing good music in person,” he said.