THIS difficult situation caused by the new coronavirus pandemic has created a wonderful opportunity for people to develop an appreciation for the arts.
It is weird to say but it is true that the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak can be a good thing, at least in this way. Producers and performers of works of art, whether it be music, a poem, movie or play, have granted free showings of their masterpieces.
It started for me with opera singer Andrea Bocelli’s Easter Sunday solo performance by live streaming titled “Music for hope — Live from Duomo di Milano.” The video reportedly broke YouTube records when it garnered 2.8 million views during the live performance. To include the replays in its first 24 hours, his video got 26 million views.
According to Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, “YouTube is honored to have played a role in making sure the world could come together, as one music family, to see, hear and listen to Andrea Bocelli’s performance on such a historic day in time.”
Bocelli himself said in a statement it was “a small, great miracle of which the whole world was the protagonist and which confirms my optimism about the future of our planet.”
Another treat for people on quarantine is the “Pause for Art: Creative Moments from Harvard,” free on YouTube, which features past and present students and professors of Harvard University in a “video series of artistic inspiration for Harvard and all students, community members and anyone looking for a moment of beauty, comfort and connection.”
Painter, poet, professor of English at Harvard Peter Sacks read “To Ryszard Krynicki – A Letter” by the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert. Harvard President Emerita and Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor Drew Gilpin Faust read an excerpt from “The cure at Troy: A version of Sophocles’ Philoctetes” by Seamus Heaney. Professor Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespeare Scholar and John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities, read “Spring” and “Winter” from William Shakespeare’s play “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”
It was a delight to listen to yangqin player Reylon Yount ‘16 with an improv he calls “With Love from London.” The yangqin is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, derived from the Iranian santur, a description of his work said.
There’s the jazz segment by sax player Don Braden ‘85, trumpet piece by Bria Skonberg, and fun sound by beatboxer Devon Guinn ‘17. There were more.
Then, there was the streaming also on YouTube of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” for a limited run last weekend. It was a pleasure to watch the video based on the musical staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2011. Viewers were asked at the start of the video to donate to The Actors Fund which provides emergency financial aid to those affected by the Covid-19.
The pandemic has caused fear and difficulty but those events mentioned above provide a much-needed source of joy and delight. And a reprieve from Netflix.