Concerts to watch during lockdown

The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra were one of the first musical ensembles in the world to experience lockdown, as it happened in China before anywhere else. This meant that they were able to quickly come up with alternatives to do live performances before other countries, and have been live-streaming socially-distanced concerts from their hall for months now!  

You can catch up with individual pieces and full concerts they’ve played on their Facebook page. 

Since being unable to perform live, the London Philharmonic Orchestra have also taken their music online, with the launch of LPOnline—a package of free digital music to connect people.  

One of their offerings is the “Lean In and Listen” Instagram series, for which celebrities such as Russell Brand and Fearne Cotton choose short pieces of classical music to share. These encourage brief moments of reflection in these strange times, and hopefully introduce new audiences to the joys of the genre! 

Violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen, alongside her composer sister Freya, have started an initiative called Living Room Live, allowing musicians to contribute digital concerts and earn back money from audience donations. This is just one amazing way they’ve been trying to keep the industry alive, and make sure musicians still have a platform to perform and a way to continue earning. 

They’ve now started a children’s concert series, as a resource for parents at home to teach their children about instruments and classical music.  

Tamsin also has an album coming out in June on Signum Records with pianist Huw Watkins. Another way to continue supporting these artists while they can’t perform live is to buy their recordings. 

For a more meditative listen, the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, has been putting on virtual chapel services, so that their fans and churchgoers (and anyone else wanting to tune in!) can experience the joys of Evensong from their homes.  

They’re playing daily evening services at 6:30pm, as well as Sunday Morning Reflection at 10:30am, with music from the Choir and St John’s Voices. 

The Royal College of Music have curated an online concert series to showcase some of the amazing music-making that happens at the conservatoire. They’re broadcasting several “premieres” on YouTube and Facebook, such as a masterclass with superstar violinist Maxim Vengerov and a concert with renowned conductor Thomas Zehetmair conducting a Dvorak Symphony. They also have a series of videos they’re releasing on demand of some of their best concerts, so that audiences can watch them back any time they like. 

If you’d like to get to the real crux of the music you’re hearing, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra have started a weekly series of artist-led discussions on music. They feature some of the Orchestra’s favourite guest soloists and conductors in conversation talking about their musical highlights and appearances with BSO. 

The Riga Jurmala Music Festival has sadly been cancelled this year, but they are still engaging many of the musicians who were planned to perform this summer, by having them teach online masterclasses to talented students in Latvia.  

These masterclasses are being streamed live to watch online for free. It’s quite amazing to see how these professional musicians impart their wisdom to the next generation, so tune in on their Facebook page to see what it’s like getting a music lesson from a big-timer! 

Read more: 6 Things you didn't know about the turntable

Read more: Music in isolation an 8-song guide

Keep up with the top stories from Reader's Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter