NEW YORK (Reuters) – Live music from fiddle and bass wafts from a street corner in New York City, drawing passersby on a cold February day.
With the face of an empty store as a stage, musicians are working on the magic again, augmented by outdoor sound systems, in the city where their concert halls were kept quiet by the pandemic.
“It’s refreshing,” said traveler Richie Clarke. “Being out here and hearing it reminds me of the magic of New York that you know is always there, but this is so, lighting it up again. ”
“That joyous day of the day” is what Kate Sheeran, executive director of the Kaufman Music Center, hopes to bring listeners through their pop-up concert series called Musical Storefronts.
More than 100 chamber musicians to Broadway stars will perform 60 performances through mid-March, funded through the Alphadyne Foundation, which employs artists whose live performances have been canceled due to the pandemic. To ensure social distance, displays at the front of the West’s neighborhood store will be announced on the same day.
“One of the best things about music is that it helps us build a community and have shared experiences, and that’s why one of the reasons we have missed it so much is ”Said Sheeran.
“I think we’re hungry for this kind of art and this kind of connection, and it’s lovely to see it here every day. ”
Live music can help people who are “meditating” and “relaxing in the day,” said Jessie Montgomery, who plays fiddle in the classical music duo Big Dog Little Dog.
“It draws you into the present day, wherever you are, and that’s what I hope to do for people as they walk by,” said Eleonore Oppenheim, the duo will die.
Reporting with Reuters Television; Edited by Richard Chang and Lisa Shumaker