Music in the Park
When concert halls went dark in March of 2020, musicians had to find ways to keep playing music—many by recording alone from their living rooms and others by syncing their parts with chamber and orchestral musicians across the globe.
I had one goal for Mistral this summer: to get away from our computer screens and perform for a live audience the only way we safely could: outdoors. I wanted to create a live experience for you in real time and space. What we offered to our players was you – a living, breathing audience, which we miss as much as you miss concerts. A mini Tanglewood of sorts.
We began small, by telling a handful of friends that Sasha and I would be playing flute and cello duos, and then we progressed to quartet, then quintet, and during our last few evenings there, six string players showed up for a Brahms Sextet and Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence (plus many arrangements for flute and strings, of course!) As I sat listening to my colleagues play Schubert Cello Quintet a few weeks ago, and I looked around at the smiling people distanced from each other on blankets and lawn chairs in the low setting sunlight, I felt moved and grateful that we were able to make this happen. The warm and fuzzy feeling was about more than just playing live. It was about staying connected and engaged with all of you, our community, and being able to once again share our music in this perfect outdoor setting.
Music in the Park
Music in the Window
