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With an empty storefront as a stage, musicians
are working their magic again, amplified by sound systems
outdoors, in the city whose concert halls have been silenced by
the pandemic.
"It's refreshing," passerby Richie Clarke said. "Just being out
here and hearing it, it reminds me of the magic of New York that
you know is always there, but this is sort of like, lighting it
up again."
That "moment of joy in their day" is what Kate Sheeran,
executive director of Kaufman Music Center, hopes to bring
audiences through its pop-up concert series called Musical
Storefronts.
Over 100 chamber musicians to Broadway stars will perform 60
shows through mid-March, funded through the Alphadyne
Foundation, which employs artists whose live gigs have been
canceled due to the pandemic. To ensure social distancing, shows
at the Upper West Side neighborhood storefront are announced
only on the same day.
"One of the things that's the best about music is that it helps
us build community and have communal experiences, and it's why,
among the reasons we've been missing it so much," Sheeran said.
"I think we've been starved for this kind of art and this kind
of connection, and it's beautiful to see it here every day."
Live music can help bystanders "reflect" and give them "a break
in the day," said Jessie Montgomery, who plays violin in
classical music duo Big Dog Little Dog.
"It sucks you right into the present, no matter where you are,
and that's what I'm hoping to do for people when they're walking
by," added Eleonore Oppenheim, the bassist in the duo.
(Reporting by Reuters Television; Editing by Richard Chang and
Lisa Shumaker)
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