Cultural Events Are Being Cancelled, So What?
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic major events have been cancelled or postponed. Most concert venues have shut down their doors, museums have been temporarily shuttered and theatres have put their lights out. The Met Gala, the annual Tony Awards, summer music festivals and Eurovision are just a few of the year’s major highlights that have been wrenched due to the novel coronavirus. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of ways to get a little culture and education while you are confined to your home! From concerts, ballet performances, theatre, museum tours or even NASA tours, entertainment industries are making a huge effort to ensure that the lockdown does hot put a hold on cultural events.
Concerts
When it comes to concerts, there are a wide range of genres that are available to watch online. From western tradition and jazz, to pop or rap, the music industry has outdone our expectations and managed to put in practice unique on screen experiences that aim to mimic the atmosphere of a concert from the comfort of your home!
A few examples of orchestra and jazz performences are listed below:
Orchestras
Lots of orchestras and bands from all over the world have transposed their music online for everyone to cherish. One great option to fill your time would be Amsterdam’s “Concertgebouw Orchestra” that streams past concerts and also conducts free masterclasses, presents portraits of the orchestra’s members and puts out documentaries. Another alternative could be the Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society that has a voluminous archive of past concerts as well as regular livestreams.
Jazz
The Lincoln Center, one of the most prestigious jazz venues, has set out on a mission to bring music in everyone’s houses. As well as making archived events permanently available to stream, the center also hosted a virtual gala: “Worldwide Music for Our Culture” through which musicians came together to create music from a distance. As Wynton Marsalis, the artistic director of “Jazz at the Lincoln Center,” said, “Jazz is inescapably hopeful music,” therefore making it very adequate to listen to especially during this tough situation.
Ballet
The most acclaimed ballet company in the world, Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre, has made its renounced performances available online. The broadcasts operate after a pre-determined schedule and each performance is available for 24 hours following the end of the livestream. The performances of the Bolshoi is granted to offer you a unique experience of the greatest ballet shows!
The New York City ballet also has performances scheduled every Tuesday and Friday which start at 8PM EDT and are available until the succeeding day. The company’s directors have also created a podcast through which they present the history of pieces and reveal insider tidbits which can help you understand the performances better.
Theatre
Various Romanian theatres have moved their activities online and are transmitting their shows regularly through various mediums, such as Facebook or YouTube. The Bucharest National Theatre, Comedy theatre and Bulandra Theatre are just a few bringing the joy of theatre in your homes.
If you are a musical theatre fan, there are some legal modes to view your favorite performances even though Broadway is to remain closed until further notice and travel has been temporarily banned nonetheless. Broadway HD and Amazon Prime are two streaming websites that offer recordings of Broadway and off-Broadway musicals at reasonably low prices.
Museum tours
Google Arts and Culture has put numerous amounts of virtual museum tours to our disposal. From the Metropolitan museum in New York to Paris’ Musee d’Orsay, you can “go to a museum” without leaving the comfort of your couch. Even though you may not fully experience the excitement of visiting a museum and strolling around the impressive building, you can still widen your knowledge by gazing at the displays and reading the descriptions that tell the history of each exhibit.
Explore the universe with NASA
If you are passionate about science, NASA has put in practice a plan that aims to
Through the use of virtual tours, podcasts or even videos created by scientists that offer an insight on the extravagant space projects, you can broaden your horizons, gain valuable knowledge and experience a unique opportunity without violating any safety policies.
All in all, going into self-quarantine can result in a lot of boredom, a lot of Netflix, and a lot of browsing the internet, however there are plenty of alternatives to take advantage of while stuck at home. The current situation does not have to set back our much-anticipated plans; we can enjoy bringing culture in our lives, and learning new things through the numerous media made available to us that are granted to help us keep a distance from boredom. So, stay safe, stay home, sit back and enjoy!