As concert halls and opera houses have closed, or had to operate under uneconomic restriction, orchestras, chamber groups, choirs and opera houses have been rushing headlong for an online presence in unprecedented numbers.
Here in the Twin Cities, the SPCO have maintained an online presence. The Minnesota Orchestra has embraced on line presence for the first time. Cantus and Vocal essence now have an online presence. The Minnesota Opera has a small on line presence as does the Shubert Club. This year's Festival of the Lakes was online this year. Northrop Auditorium have presented one online organ concert.
The Philadelphia Orchestra has dramatically ramped up it presence with wonderful offerings. The DSO has ramped up its offerings with its Digital access.
The LSO has ramped up its offerings. The BPO is now back to full strength and maintaining a normal concert schedule now without an audience. The whole operation is kept in a bubble, and all musicians and staff are tested daily. So far so good and I suspect all is carried out with ruthless Teutonic thoroughness.
The Met Opera has its archive on line, and has has an ongoing series of recitals from its stars around the world, usually performing from an exotic location.
The Proms had a limited two week series of socially distanced concerts with no audience. One was an organ spectacular and it was spectacular.
Payment models vary. Some like the SPCO and Minnesota Orchestra are on the honor system. The Met recitals and the Philadelphia orchestra charge $20.00 per concert. The MET, Cantus and Vocal Essence charge the same. The Met charge over and above the subscription to the archive at $20.00 per recital. Cantus and Vocal Essene require purchase of online tickets. The DSO charges $175.00 above its subscription price for digital access concerts for the season.
What has been on offer has been outstanding on the whole. Fidelity is in the main excellent. The quality of this week's Philadelphia Concert was stunning. Concerts have been most interesting with works left neglected and unusual arrangements of the familiar. Both the BPO and the Philadelphians have presented the rarely performed chamber version of Mahler number symphony No. 4.
Covid-19 is however upsetting these efforts. Both the DSO and MSO had to cancel last week's concerts because of an outbreak. The SPCO has now cancelled its regular season and its digital season after getting savaged by the virus.
The 20/21 regular season of the above mentioned groups are cancelled. Hopefully the 21/22 seasons will start on time.
So paradoxically I have "attended" more online concerts and recitals on line than I ever have. I suspect that this pandemic will change the way the musical arts are presented to the public forever.
So there has never been a better time to have really good equipment. Best Buy sales are booming. I checked with my B & M dealer today and checked in before writing this post, and the owner told me this pandemic has increased his business. I expect this to add to equipment shortages.
The Christmas Concert of the School I attended moved online this year for the first time. I will post this in another thread, as it contains some wonderful photography.
