‘THROW OPEN OUR WINDOWS’

KATE HATMAKER, CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF ART OF ÉLAN AND VIOLINIST WITH THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY

Where do we turn to nourish our souls during what can feel like a dark, fearful time?

It seems instinctive to rush to stock up on necessities, preparing to “hunker down” for a yet-to-be-determined period of time. But in our state of panic and impulse-buying, how many of us pause to reflect on the possibility that standing in line at Trader Joe’s might represent one of the last opportunities — for a while anyway — for a shared human experience?

Many of us have tended to our perceived “needs” these last few days, but it won’t be long before we realize there is something else that our souls need. In an amazing act of innovation, musician colleagues and arts institutions have resourcefully gone to the internet to stay connected with the world, offering live-streamed performances or archived recordings to a hungry virtual audience. And as much as these are a welcome offering, I venture to say it is not enough. It is no substitute for shared human experiences.

Art of Élan, in its role as a small nonprofit that curates intimate classical music events, has always recognized that shared human experiences are both powerful and crucial to our collective good health. Our very recent concert at the San Diego Museum of Art saw 59 concertgoers actually show up in the rain for an intimate evening of beautiful and transportive music, performed in a small gallery with art on the wall just a few feet from where we all sat.

Although we didn’t know it at the time, it was to be our last opportunity for the foreseeable future to commune with our listeners through music. How grateful we all were for that moment, and how desperately we are all craving it now that shared human experiences seem to be a rare commodity. On a recent rainy Friday, I personally got so restless that I called up the administrators of our local Costco to ask if I could bring my violin and set up outside the store somewhere to bring the music of Bach to the line of panic-stricken people just waiting to get in.

So yes, let’s continue to innovate and connect virtually, in true 21st-century fashion, but let’s not forget to throw open our windows and doors once in a while. We might hear our neighbors singing, or perhaps witness a strolling musician who just had to bring her live music into the public sphere once again.

What a glorious sound that would be.

COURTESY PHOTO