For most everyone on earth, dealing with this global situation has been heartbreaking in a lot of ways. Here at your Tucson Symphony Orchestra, we were one day away from sharing Shostakovich 12 with our amazing audience when we abruptly had to pack up our instruments and leave the Music Hall. Our season wouldn\u2019t resume, and we wouldn\u2019t have the chance to play the epic Mahler 2 a couple of weeks later. We also wouldn\u2019t get to play for thousands of children during the education weeks we present each spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of that was tough news to receive. But even harder is feeling this disconnection that looms over us all. We listen to split-screen, overdubbed performance collaborations, which amaze us. We listen to Digital Concert Hall, Broadway HD, and YouTube performances, all of which inspire us. But through it all, there\u2019s simply nothing that ignites our senses and our spirits in the way that live performances do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s something that happens in a crowded concert hall during every live performance that makes us feel deeply connected. The notes are lifted off the page by the orchestra and stirred to life, but it\u2019s not until that final moment of playing for an audience that the full effect is felt. When there is an audience in the room to receive and share the experience\u2026when everyone can sit shoulder to shoulder, feeling the same emotions at the same time, a communal pulse of the human spirit can be felt. That\u2019s what we\u2019re missing. That\u2019s why this is so difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even when stepping into an empty concert hall, you can feel the energy that has lived in it\u2026it\u2019s a collective memory that hangs in the air. Every concert hall on Earth sits empty right now and, in a way, that image represents the whole disconnection of our world at this moment. All the wonderful online experiences in the world can\u2019t replace that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There will come a day when life will return to the world\u2019s concert halls. There will come a day when we can feel that joyous, cathartic feeling of live music and human connection once again. But for now, let\u2019s enjoy artistic experiences on screens. Let\u2019s applaud the creativity and work ethic that produces these on-screen wonders, and let\u2019s be thankful for the technology that allows us to have it. Let\u2019s try to find ways to communicate while we\u2019re apart, and our souls will wait for the day that we can be connected again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n