Virtual Performances Recap

Masked/pre-recorded concert with no audience!

Laughing with audience members in “virtual green room.”

As I look forward to my first in-person concert with a live audience since before the pandemic, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the many and varied online concert experiences of this past year.

Through such a challenging and time, it took a lot of adaptability, creativity, and ingenuity to keep performances going. There were definitely some technical difficulties – delays with YouTube streams, pre-recorded piano tracks pausing mid-performance, wind storms knocking out the internet – but also many beautiful moments to connect with audience members from around the world through virtual greenrooms and post-concert Zoom meet-and-greets.

I participated in high-tech concerts streamed by professional audio engineers with multiple cameras, microphones, angles; very low tech “living room broadcasts” from my apartment with a laptop and a condenser mic; remote recording projects stitched together to create a virtual ensemble; and many experiences in between.

Music is about sharing and connecting with others, and it was encouraging to experience this shared connection even through virtual and remote formats.

I look forward to making music in person again and to continuing to explore the many possibilities opened by sharing concerts online.