Celebrities, Orchestras, and More Are Streaming Live Music to Your Living Room — Here's How to Listen (Video)
The show must go on — without or without a live audience.
As the coronavirus crisis continues to unfold, many of us are adjusting to a new norm — working from home, keeping away from loved ones, and avoiding restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and gyms. Many cities have also halted events prone to hosting large crowds: parades, sports games, and concerts all dropped off the calendar.
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But being stuck indoors doesn't mean you can't get a culture fix. As a response to the closure of various venues around the world, many museums, national parks, and even zoos are going virtual, giving those at home a chance to enjoy their services from the comfort of their pajamas.
If you're looking for another, more musical way to tune out the wall-to-wall coronavirus coverage, we come bearing good news.
Rather than outright canceling their performances, many orchestras are heading online. The Berlin Philharmonic (closed until April 19), for example, has opened its digital archive, offering access to hundreds of previous concerts as well as upcoming shows (register before March 31 to take advantage). Meanwhile, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which is shut until April 13, will livestream performances on their YouTube channel.
More music to our ears: The Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and London's Wigmore Hall round out the list of locations bringing concerts straight to your living room (or bed — we won't tell).
Operas are embracing the new digital reality, too. Of course, we've already told you about the Metropolitan Opera, which will stream some of its most celebrated shows for free every night. The Paris Opera followed suit, offering a livestream of classic ballets and operas, including Swan Lake, Carmen, and Don Giovanni, during the period of lockdown in France. Others include the Vienna State Opera, which will share a different performance each day via its streaming platform, and Italy's Teatro Regio, which has set up a YouTube channel (aptly called Opera on the Sofa) to showcase past productions. You can find more streaming concerts here.
And if classical music is not your thing, not to worry, as there are other options.
Upset about Ultra Music Festival? Starting March 20, you can tune into SiriusXM's Ultra Virtual Audio Festival on UMF Radio, which will pump live DJ sets from artists on the festival lineup, including Afrojak, Major Lazer, and Armin van Burren.
"With the postponement of beloved events, necessary changes in people's everyday life, and need for social distancing, we know our listeners are seeking a sense of community more than ever," Scott Greenstein, president and chief content officer of SiriusXM, said, according to a post on the website.
There's also BroadwayHD, which allows subscribers to stream favorites, like Cats, Kinky Boots, and 42nd Street, from a huge catalog of theater productions.
Pop stars are also joining the fray. Musicians like Coldplay's Chris Martin and John Legend gave solo performances on Instagram as part of the "Together at Home" project, a new series of virtual concerts presented by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Global Citizen. It's all an effort to "promote unity amid the COVID-19 pandemic's social distancing protocols," according to the WHO website. Legend, who called on Charlie Puth and Miguel to show up next, posted his video on Instagram along with a note: "Social distancing is important, but that doesn't mean it has to be boring." We couldn't agree more.
