ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — With her violin and bow in hand, concertmaster Heather Kao will walk onto the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre stage and join the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra during the opening night of the 2020 fall season, as she has done every year since 2015.
As the crowd looks on, Kao will begin playing a single note; a quiet drone entering the audience’s ear, swelling into a chord as other instruments join in, before falling again, until each section of the orchestra is in tune.
The orchestra won’t be able to see the audience, but not because of the blinding stage lights. This year, performances of Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Handel and Brahms will be broadcast directly to a subscriber’s home, as the orchestra moves to the virtual sphere because of COVID-19.
“We can offer it to people across the province and hopefully reach beyond the province." — Heather Kao
Despite the change of scenery, Kao, who is also first violinist for the Atlantic String Quartet, said she’s excited at the opportunities this provides.
“I am looking forward to the fact that we’re going to, hopefully, reach a whole new audience,” Kao said.
The orchestra had been discussing recording and streaming their performances for a while. But the current restrictions on social distancing have made those plans a more immediate concept.
“We can offer it to people across the province and hopefully reach beyond the province,” Kao said.
Hugh Donnan, CEO of the NSO, said online concerts began once it became clear in-person concerts were not an option.
“We had four concerts left in our season,” Donnan said. “We went through all of our archival material in the spring and, lo and behold, we were able to put together nine concerts of archived video from the past two seasons.”
About 25,000 people viewed those concerts, which were broadcasting on Friday and Saturday nights, he said.
“That was a really interesting proof of concept because we never had any plan to show those concerts online,” Donnan said. “Our production manager, Steve Power, did an amazing job putting everything together and they were successful.”
Power is going into his third season as production manager with the NSO. Up until this year, he described his job as making sure the orchestra has everything they need to rehearse and play.
“We’re expanding my position to include the actual recording, editing and broadcasting of all the concerts,” Power said.
“I’m really excited about it actually. … Particularly because it helps us get our orchestra out to the rest of our province.”
The logistics of taking 75 musicians out to Corner Brook, for instance, is complicated, he says. And expensive.
“We just don’t get to go around the province as much as we want to.”
The concerts will be pre-recorded, edited and then broadcast about a week afterward.
The details are still being discussed, but the season — which begins in the last two weeks of September — will now have multiple camera angles and higher quality sound.
The orchestra will be in a “bubble system” on stage, with more than two metres distance between each musician.
“They’re also going to be masked most of the time (and) we’re going to use plexiglass dividers between some of our woodwind and brass instruments,” Donnan said.
Kao says it’s going to be a different but interesting experience as a musician.
“We’re used to being really close together,” she said. “As violinists, all the string players, we all share a stand … it’s going to be a real experiment.”
There is the potential to lose some of the unspoken communication between players which an audience might not pick up on, she says.
“We might, as individuals, miss some of the subtleties of what my stand partner is playing,” Kao said. “But that’s why we have our trusty conductor. He’ll help guide us through that.”
Power says they’re trying to bring the virtual experience a step up to what would be expected.
“It’s not accurate to say we’ve only got one chance to make it right, but we do want to come out of the gate kicking,” Power said.
This is the year to subscribe to YOUR NSO - 8 incredible concerts at one low price - all from the comfort of your living room. Begin #reimagining with us #MyNSO #nlarts - info here 👇👇👇https://t.co/puYHXqjI8j pic.twitter.com/U9xuWnf5Ta
— NSO (@NSOonline) August 24, 2020
Tickets for the upcoming NSO fall season, the theme of which is “Reimagining,” are on sale now until Sept. 25.
In any other year, an individual would pay $250 for a fall subscription.
“If a couple was coming to the symphony for the fall for eight concerts, they’d pay between them, around $500,” Donnan said. “What we’re doing with the online access, is a household subscription.”
For $150, the entire fall schedule is included. This means anyone with a subscription and access to the internet can have friends or family into their home to watch.
“You can enjoy it with your spouse, partner … or with your family,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for families who normally wouldn’t be able to bring small kids to the symphony, now they can watch it at home … (and) you don’t have to hire a sitter.”
And while the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre has a capacity of almost 1,000 people, seats are now limitless.
Twitter: @AndrewLWaterman