With concert halls and operas being forced to close their doors due to the spread of Covid-19, a number are turning to the internet to keep the music playing. We at Gramophone recognise the economic fragility of the live music sector and the often hand-to-mouth nature of many musicians’ lives, so we will keep music-lovers updated on ways of listening to the music without leaving home.

(We will endeavour to keep this story updated as we learn of further initiatives.)

Guide to times

The UK is now on British Summer Time (BST). The West Coast of America (PST) is eight hours behind the UK, Central Daylight Time (CDT) is six hours behind the UK, the East Coast (EST) is five hours behind the UK; Central European time (CET) is one hour ahead of the UK; China time (CST) is seven hours ahead of the UK; Japan time (JST) is eight hours ahead of the UK; Western Australia (AWST) is seven hours ahead of the UK, Eastern Australia (AEDT) is 10 hours ahead of the UK and the time in New Zealand (NZDT) is 12 hours ahead of the UK. For other countries or cities, please consult a time zone convertor.

New [15.5.20]

Moment Musical

This Berlin-based initiative by Deutsche Grammophon streams concerts from various venues in the city. Today, May 15, sees DG's latest signing, the soprano Hera Hyesang Park joined by the pianist Sarah Tysman in Berlin's Mestersaal for a recital. Describing herself as a nomad and free spirit, Hera 'is determined to follow her own path as she travels the world, challenging cultural, racial and gender stereotypes along the way'. Her programme includes music by Purcell, Handel and Hahn.

Catch it at 3pm (CET) on YouTube.

New [14.5.20]

Metropolitan Opera, New York [updated]

The Met, currently closed, is offering a nightly opera broadcast (drawn from its extensive archives). 'We’d like to provide some grand opera solace to opera lovers in these extraordinarily difficult times,' said the Met's General Manager Peter Gelb. 'Every night, we’ll be offering a different complete operatic gem from our collection of HD presentations from the past 14 years.'

The operas will start at 7.30pm (EST), 00.30am (BST), 1.30am (CET) but will remain viewable for 23 hours at The Met's website.

The programme is:

Thursday, May 14
R Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos (from March 1988)
James Levine conductor
With Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and Tatiana Troyanos. 

Friday, May 15
Britten Peter Grimes (from March 2008)
Sir Donald Runnicles conductor
With Patricia Racette, Anthony Dean Griffey and Anthony Michaels-Moore.

Saturday, May 16
Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor (from November 1982)
Viewers’ Choice 00.30 (BST)
Richard Bonynge conductor
With Joan Sutherland, Alfredo Kraus, Pablo Elvira and Paul Plishka.

Sunday, May 17
Verdi Rigoletto (from February 2013)
Michele Mariotti conductor
With Diana Damrau, Oksana Volkova, Piotr Beczała and Željko Lučić.

Monday, May 18
Verdi Nabucco (from January 2017)
James Levine conductor
With Liudmyla Monastyrska, Jamie Barton, Russell Thomas, Plácido Domingo and Dmitry Belosselskiy. 

Tuesday, May 19
Mozart Idomeneo (from March 2017)
James Levine conductor
With Nadine Sierra, Elza van den Heever, Alice Coote and Matthew Polenzani. 

Wednesday, May 20
Wagner Lohengrin (from January 1986)
Classic Telecast 
James Levine conductor
With Eva Marton, Leonie Rysanek, Peter Hofmann, Leif Roar and John Macurdy. 

Thursday, May 21
Verdi Un ballo in maschera (from December 2012)
Fabio Luisi conductor
With Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe, Marcelo Álvarez and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. 

Friday, May 22
Puccini Turandot (from October 2019)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
With Christine Goerke, Eleonora Buratto, Yusif Eyvazov and James Morris. 

Saturday, May 23
Mozart Don Giovanni (from March 1978)
Viewers’ Choice
Richard Bonynge conductor
With Joan Sutherland, James Morris and Gabriel Bacquier. 

Sunday, May 24
Gounod Faust (from December 2011)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
With Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, Russell Braun and René Pape. 

Monday, May 25
Massenet Manon (from April 2012)
Fabio Luisi conductor
With Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała and Paulo Szot. 

New [13.5.20]

Institut français Royaume-Uni

The pianist and composer Karol Beffa has been active in the revival of the piano improvisation, an art that's largely forgotten, despite arousing extreme enthusiasm among audiences in the 19th century. As part as the French Institute's 'Beyond Words French Literature Festival', he will improvise, from his home, on pairs of two themes given by the public.

Rubinstein Virtual PianoFest

The Rubinstein Virtual PianoFest – a partnership between the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University – starts on May 5 and runs until May 21. The main live events, alongside archive Rubinstein Competition performances (with the likes of Daniil Trifonov, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Sara Daneshpour and Daniel Ciobanu), are a series of 12 daily live-streamed recitals from a dozen of the best young Israeli pianists (all at least national prizewinners or members of the Rubinstein Competition Junior Jury), live from Clairmont Hall at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, and several previous laureates of the Competition live-streaming from around the world, including Boris Giltburg, Alexander Korsantia and Roman Rabinovich. And there are discussion panels and interviews, making this a must for pianophiles.

The events will stream at 6pm (Tel Aviv time - that's 4pm, BST and 5pm CET) on the Facebook pages and websites of the partner organisations (the Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society, the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University and Haaretz.

The Berliner Philharmoniker's traditional May 1 concert (marking the date of its formation, and which takes place in a major European city) will now be streamed from the orchestra's own home, the Philharmonie in Berlin. The original venue was to have been in Tel Aviv, coinciding with a state visit to Israel by the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Instead the President will introduce the concert in the Philharmonie and Kirill Petrenko will conduct a chamber-orchestra-size Berliner Philharmoniker.

The concert, on May 1 at 11am (CET), will be broadcast live by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) on TV (Das Erste) and on radio (rbbKultur) and will also be available as a EuroArts production on television in 80 countries and worldwide in the Digital Concert Hall (currently offering free access).

The programme will be:

Pärt Fratres
Ligeti Ramifications
Barber Adagio for Strings
Mahler Symphony No. 4 (arrangement for chamber ensemble by Erwin Stein) with Christiane Karg (sop)

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge

The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge has launched eight weeks of daily virtual services, hosted on its Facebook page, seeking to continue Chapel worship whilst the Chapel is closed due to Covid-19. The services feature recordings from recent live services in the Chapel paired with short reflections and sermons by the Chapel’s Dean and Chaplain, recorded from their homes. Each service will be between 15-20 minutes and will be free to watch for 24 hours.

The College will release virtual services in the same pattern as its usual timetable, and in line with the liturgical calendar, including Ascension Day and Pentecost.

Service outline (launch PDF for full service details):

Sundays at 8.30am (BST) – College Communion
This is usually attended by members of College only, will be celebrated by the Dean and/or Chaplain and available on Facebook Live (via the SJC Chaplain group page). It will remain online for the rest of the day.

Sundays at 10.30am (BST) – Morning Reflection.
It will be led by the Dean or Chaplain, and include a piece sung by the Choir recorded at a previous service. The service will vary in length, but will usually last about 15–20 minutes. 

Monday-Friday at 8.30am (BST) – Morning Prayer
From Common Worship, one of the prayer book of the Church of England. This will be available on Facebook Live (via the SJC Chaplain group page) and remain online until midday. You may join in remotely by using the Daily Prayer app, or on the Church of England website

Daily at 6.30pm (BST) – Evening Service
Led by the Dean or Chaplain, it will include a piece sung by the Choir (by St John’s Voices on Mondays) recorded at a previous service. We have listed the repertoire in the following pages. The service will vary in length, but will usually be about 15-20 minutes. The Monday service may be followed here  and the other days may be followed here. 

Lisa Batiashvili and friends at Audi’s Igolstadt factory

Audi sent out a signal of solidarity from Ingolstadt on April 14. The Artistic Director of the Audi Summer Concerts, Lisa Batiashvili, together with other renowned musicians, gave a concert that was streamed live from the Audi factory, the equivalent to the size of Monaco (which is more used to producing around 440,000 cars a year). Audi is hosting the concert as part of its international #AudiTogether campaign, and is giving €5 million in immediate aid to national and international humanitarian causes to support the Covid-19 crisis.

Lisa Batiashvili was joined on stage by the oboist and conductor François Leleux, her husband. The other performers were the cellist Maximilian Hornung, the violinist Sarah Christian, Concertmaster of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and Jano Lisboa, the solo viola player at the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The programme consisted of works by Beethoven, Bach, Handel and Mozart. The presenter of the programme was Alexander Mazza.

The concert was shown live on Audi's website, on its YouTube channel, its Facebook page and on Twitter. Also, the livestream will be available on AudiMedia TV on www.audimedia.tv (where it will also be available as a recording after the event) and using the Audi MediaTV-App via Smart TV. 

Iveta Apkalna

Organist Iveta Apkalna played music by JS Bach and Philip Glass in an empty Konzerthaus, Dortmund on March 29. The concert is available as video-on-demand in the takt1 media library. New users can watch for free as part of takt1's seven-day free trial. Sign up at the takt1 website. 

Benedikt Kloeckner

The cellist Benedikt Kloeckner plays solo Bach, ‘Bach against Corona’, every evening at 8pm (CET) on his Facebook page. He suggests you consider making a donation and has provided a link (in German) to a site that supports German musicians.

Boris Giltburg 

The pianist Boris Giltburg will give lunchtime recitals from his home every Monday and Wednesday (and on a Friday when he is not adding a new Beethoven piano sonata to his ongoing cycle of the 32 – those can be viewed on YouTube or Apple Music).

The lunchtime concerts will be going out at 1pm (CET), 12pm (GMT), 8am (EST) on Twitter or Facebook. 

The Kanneh-Mason Family

The talented Kanneh-Mason family will will be going live via cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s Facebook page every Wednesday and Friday at 5.30pm (BST). This will be a mixture of intimate chamber performances with the family, and behind the scenes chat! You can already watch their first live stream featuring Sheku and Isata.

Lise de Salle

The French pianist Lise de la Salle streams a live recital at 7pm (CET) every Tuesday and Saturday from her home on her Facebook page.

Pavel Sporcl

The Czech violinist, Pavel Sporcl, has been active from his living room, including performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto to a pre-recorded orchestral track (a partnership with The Violin Channel, it has notched up more than 40,000 views). His ticketed evening concerts have proved that artists can charge for streamed private concerts during this period.

April 22 sees him launching a new initiative: the complete JS Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, across six weekly evenings. Each concert will feature, as well as a performance, a talk about Pavel's own interpretation, comparisons of different interpretive styles and possibilities, analysis of each movement and discussion of the technical aspects and difficulties. 

Concerts From The Living Room II, Wednesdays at 8pm (CET) – Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin  

Alisa Weilerstein 

The cellist Alisa Weilerstein invites you to join her over the next 36 days for ‘36 Days Of Bach’ when she discusses and plays one movement from JS Bach’s six solo cello suites each day. Catch her on Facebook at 10.30am (PDT). ‘Each day I will present one movement, and I invite you to share your questions about Bach, the cello suites, and other musical topics in the comments’ on her Facebook page.

Orchestral

Academy of Ancient Music

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) will make HD videos of its recent concerts available online free of charge, as part of its new ‘Streaming Sundays’ series. Watch them on the AAM Facebook page starting at 3pm (BST) and then archived.

Now available – ‘Handel’s Heroines’

Sopranos Mary Bevan and Jennifer France join the AAM, directed by Laurence Cummings, in a concert programme featuring some of Handel's most glorious writing for soprano.


Now available – ‘Sound the Trumpet’

Trumpeter David Blackadder joins soprano Soraya Mafi, director Chad Kelly and the AAM for music by Purcell, Handel, Bach and Torelli.

Now available – ‘The Art of the Lute’ 

The virtuoso Thomas Dunford joins AAM to showcase the lute, performing and directing works by Vivaldi, Bach and Buxtehude.

Now available – Handel’s Messiah 

The AAM presents Handel's Messiah, joined by VOCES8, Apollo5 and the choir of the VOCES8 Foundation under the direction of Barnaby Smith.



Now available – Bach & Haydn 

Violinist Viktoria Mullova and countertenor James Hall join Richard Egarr and the AAM for a concert of Bach, Haydn and Grimani.


April 26 – Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro    

Mozart's comic opera in a concert performance directed by Richard Egarr. The AAM is joined by a cast including Roberto Lorenzi as Figaro, Ellie Laugharne as Susanna, Toby Girling as Count Almaviva, Simona Mihai as Countess Almaviva, Wallis Giunta as Cherubino and Rowan Pierce as Barbarina.



May 3 – Beethoven and Witt

Chen Reiss and the AAM under the direction of Christoph Altstaedt present Beethoven's The Creatures of Prometheus Overture, Symphony No 4 and concert arias for soprano in a programme which also includes a symphony by Beethoven’s contemporary, Frederich Witt.


American Composers Orchestra presents world premieres on Zoom

The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) has launched a new project called 'Connecting ACO Community' to commission composers to write new solo works to be premiered on Zoom on Sundays at 5pm (EST) beginning April 19. Seven concerts are planned, and the first one will be  on April 19 featuring a new work by Ethan Iverson premiered by violinist Miranda Cuckson, with a moderated Q&A to follow. 

Ticket holders will receive a private link to join the performance on Zoom, and all of the proceeds from ticket sales will go solely to fund artists involved in this project. (If the $5 entrance fee poses a barrier to participation, interested listeners will be asked to fill out an anonymous form or email Aiden Feltkamp to request a fee waiver.)

Complete schedule and composer-performer teams are:
 
May 17: Gity Razaz & Jennifer Koh (violin) – buy tickets
 
May 24: Yuan-Chen Li & Jeffrey Zeigler (cello) – buy tickets
 
May 31: Carlos Simon & Anthony Roth Costanzo (countertenor) and Brooklyn Youth Chorus – buy tickets

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

One of Norway's finest ensembles unveils two further newly recorded streamed concerts, in its 'Close up – at a distance' series, both under the baton of its Music Director Edward Gardner. Watch them on the Bergen orchestra's own website

Berliner Philharmoniker (Digital Concert Hall)

In Germany, events with an audience size of more than 500 have been cancelled, therefore the Philharmonie will close its doors until April 19. The Berliner Philharmoniker has announced that it will offer free access to its Digital Concert Hall. The most recent concert – Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra – with Sir Simon Rattle conducting was given in an empty Philharmonie and it is one of dozens of concerts and films that can be watched in the Digital Concert Hall.

Berliner Philharmoniker

In addition to free access to the Digital Concert Hall (see further above), the Berliner Philharmoniker is launching a new online concert format – The Berlin Phil Series.

The orchestra invites you to join them every Saturday at 7pm (CET) in the Digital Concert Hall for a live chamber-music concert and archive recordings of orchestral works, with a dedicated theme every week. The evenings will be curated and presented by musicians of the orchestra. The Berlin Phil Series will be available exclusively in the Digital Concert Hall.

On April 25, Noah Bendix-Bagley, First Concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker, will present a programme entitled 'An American in Berlin'. Chamber music pieces for violin and piano by George Gershwin, Amy Beach and John Corigliano are combined with orchestral works by American composers. The programme includes Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, works by Charles Ives and John Adams – and even music from cartoons.

Boston Symphony Orchestra

The Boston Symphony Orchestra launched BSO@Home on March 23, a collection of archive concert recordings and backstage videos. Updates promised on their website.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra

‘Historically, art and music have helped us through difficult times, and we need it now more than ever,’ says the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. ‘Today, please enjoy a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No 7 from April 2019. This was Fabio Luisi’s first concert with the DSO after being announced as Music Director. It was a celebratory event and an evening of incredible music-making.’ Watch it on Facebook.

Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Paavo Järvi

Following their 48-hour stream of Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem from Bremen Cathedral, courtesy of C Major (who have just released the DVD), Paavo Järvi and The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen maintain the Brahms connection with the four symphonies. Watch the four symphonies, recorded in 2018 in concert in Paris's Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, over the next few days on the orchestra’s website. Each symphony will be available for two days (No 3 April 16-18 and No 4 April 18-20).

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin 

Until May 15
The DSO Berlin and former musical boss Kent Nagano is in charge in John Adams's El Niño in the 2000 world premiere performance from Paris's Théâtre du Châtelet, featuring Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Willard White. 

May 15-22
The DSO Berlin's Music Director Robin Ticciati conducts Elgar's Violin Concerto (with Renaud Capuçon) and Schumann's Symphony  No 3, 'Rhenish'

May 22-29
Kent Nagano conducts Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave in a 2001 Channel 4 film production, directed by Margaret Williams, featuring Gerald Finley, Peter Savidge, Hilton Marlton and Josephine Barstow.

Watch at the DSO Berlin's website.

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

The National Orchestra of Sweden has been championing streamed concerts via its GSOPlay site. With the dynamic Santtu-Matias Rouvali at the helm this magnificent orchestra is on top form. Catch them with their young maestro in symphonies by Sibelius, Richard Strauss's Don Juan and Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto (with Mari Kodama), as well as Leopold Hager conducting Bruckner's Fourth, Christoph Eschenbach with Shostakovich's Eighth and much more, as well as interviews and behind the scenes footage.

Lithuanian National Philharmonic Television

Baltic Mobile Recordings in Lithuania have, since 2017, and in collaboration with Lithuanian National Philharmonic started a professional and free streaming service of the National Symphony Orchestra concerts in Vilnius. You can enjoy the concerts for free in HD.

Repertoire includes a concert of Glass, Vasks, Riley and The Beatles with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and Hugo Ticciati; Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto played by Lukas Geniušas, Brahms's Symphony No 4 conducted by Giedrė Šlekytė; Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony conducted by Modestas Pitrenas (Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra); Brahms's First Piano Concerto played by Mūza Rubackytė; Gerald Finzi's Romance for strings, and much more.

London Mozart Players

With a packed performing schedule now on hold, the London Mozart Players are taking to the web with talks, performances and masterclasses which can be streamed on their Facebook page. As well as the streams listed below, other Associated artists involved in the project also include Howard Shelley, Hilary Davan Wetton, Jess Gillam, Michael Collins and LMP’s Young Artist in Residence Laura van der Heijden, More information on the LMP's website.

The programme is:

April 24 at 10.00am (Family Fridays) – The Carnival of the Animals with Joanna Lumley.

April 25 (Saturday Sessions) – Pianist Warren Lee gives a piano recital on Facebook-Live.

London Sinfonietta

The London Sinfonietta has announced the launch of a new series of live digital content especially for the period of the Covid-19 lockdown including live video performances, filmed performances, podcasts and composer interviews. Full information on the London Sinfonietta's website.

To begin, join them on their Youtube channel for 'Sinfonietta Shorts Live', in which short five-minute solo works will be performed, followed by discussions with the composer and performer plus a Q&A. Wednesdays at 3pm (BST.)

Later in April they will launch 'RSVP' - the chance for people to send short compositions on the back of a postcard and hear it interpreted by one of their principal musicians. A brand new series of Performance Guides, where viewers can find out more about the unusual demands 21st-century music can make on the instrument and the performer in an online masterclass, will also be launching in April.

Sinfonietta Shorts Live (Wednesdays at 3pm, BST) on the London Sinfonietta's YouTube channel and then archived on their website:

Now archived  – A live performance by cellist Tim Gill of Ed Finnis’s Three Solos and Emma-Ruth Richards’s Dark Radiance

Principal double bass Enno Senft performing two London Sinfonietta commissions, Trish Clowes's Hero and Dai Fujikura's Es, joined by both composers.

Principal flute Michael Cox performing two London Sinfonietta commissions, Colin Matthews's Bell-Wether and Samantha Fernando's Kinesphere, joined by both composers.

Also available on their website:

Digital Works: Stonehenge 360 
A 360-degree video of the premiere of a new commission by composer Matt Rogers within Stonehenge’s hallowed stone circle. Commissioned by English Heritage, the piece is a collaboration between Jeremy Deller, Matt Rogers and the London Sinfonietta.

Landmarks: Music For 18 Musicians 
Watch an interview with Steve Reich in which he talks about his music and the inspiration behind his iconic Music for 18 Musicians. The film also includes behind-the-scenes footage of the London Sinfonietta and Synergy Vocals in rehearsal for a performance of the piece in 2009.

Through The Lens
Photography from Sound Out 2020, The Garden, Music For 18 Musicians, Cave and in vain in rehearsal.

London Symphony Orchestra

The LSO and Sir Simon Rattle have launched ‘Always Playing’, an initiative that sees archive recordings of full-length concerts being streamed at the orchestra's usual concert programme times of 7.30pm (BST) on Thursdays and 7pm on Sundays. ‘We need music in our lives more than ever at this time of social distancing. For the LSO musicians it feels totally alien to suddenly down instruments, and many of them are coming forward to see how they can help to engage people in music by other means,’ said the LSO's MD, Kathryn McDowell.

The first full concert is on Sunday, March 22 at 7pm (BST) which you be access via the LSO's website. The LSO also has over 500 videos on its YouTube page.

Programming is as follows:

May 17 at 7pm (BST)
Sir Simon Rattle conductor

Turnage Remembering: 'In Memoriam Evan Scofield'
Mahler Symphony No 6

May 21 ay 7.30pm (BST)
Gianandrea Noseda conductor
Denis Matsuev pf

Britten Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from ‘Peter Grimes’
Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 2
Shostakovich Symphony No 6

May 24 at 7pm (BST)
LSO Percussion Ensemble

Chick Corera arr Simon Carrington Duet Suite
Joe Locke Her Sanctuary
Gwilym Simcock Barber Blues
Makoto Ozone Kato’s Revenge
Steve Reich Quartet
Gwilym Simcock Quintet

May 28 at 7.30pm (BST)
Valery Gergiev conductor
Sally Matthews sop Christopher Maltman bar
London Symphony Chorus (Simon Halsey chorus director)

Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem

May 31 at 7pm (BST)
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Karen Cargill mez Bryan Hymel ten Christopher Purves bar Gábor Bretz bass
London Symphony Chorus (Simon Halsey chorus director)

Berlioz The Damnation of Faust

June 4 at 7.30pm (BST)
LSO Chamber Ensemble
Roman Simovic director
Malcolm Sinclair narrator

Stravinsky The Soldier’s Tale

June 7 at 3pm (BST)
LSO On Track Young Musicians
Guildhall School Musicians
Sir Simon Rattle conductor

Dvořák Slavonic Dances – selection
Bushra el-Turk Tuqus
Poulenc Les biches Suite – selection
Ravel La valse

June 11 at 7.30pm (BST)
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Leila Josefowicz vn

Emily Howard Antisphere
Colin Matthews Violin Concerto
Walton Symphony No 1

June 14 at 7pm (BST)
Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor
Alexander Knox, Ceri-lyn Cissone, Frankie Wakefield actors
Monteverdi Choir

Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream

New York Philharmonic

New York's great ensemble launches NY Phil Plays On with films and audio streams of recent concerts including a video of Mahler's Fifth Symphony conducted by Jaap van Zweden, as well as sound recordings of Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Julia Wolfe's Fire in my mouth (its associated CD release was a Gramophone Editor's Choice), Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Brahms's A German Requiem, Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and much more. Watch or listen on the NYPO's website.

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, in partnership with Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), has announced a programme of pre-recorded, streamed performances, to be shown by RTS and on YouTube. The streams are added each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8pm (CET) and will remain online until the end of July. The concerts are conducted the OSR’s Musical and Artistic Director, Jonathan Nott. More information can be found on the OSR’s website

Philharmonie de Paris [updated]

A concert every evening at 8.30pm (CET) from the archives of the Philharmonie de Paris will be put on-line exceptionally for a period of 24 hours. It can be viewed free of charge on the website or by downloading the Philharmonie Live app. The content made available will reflect the rich diversity of the hall's programming (the Orchestre de Paris, major international orchestras, baroque music, chamber music, contemporary music, jazz, pop/rock/singer-songwriters, etc.), featuring some of the world’s finest conductors, soloists, jazz, pop or electro musicians.

May 12
'ARBA - Around Barbara'
Jeanne Cherhal and Bachar Mar-Khalifé 

May 13
Choeur et Orchestre de Paris / Daniel Harding
Kate Royal, Gerhild Romberger, Andrew Staples, Sean Clayton, Matthias Goerne
Schumann Paradise and the Peri

May 14
Nicholas Angelich piano
Bach Chorale, Nun kommt der Heiden Heiland
Brahms Fantasies, Op 116
Beethoven Piano Sonata No 14, 'Moonlight'
Prokofiev Piano Sonata No 8

May 15
Ensemble intercontemporain / Matthias Pintscher
Bryce Dessner
Ives Three Places in New England
Dessner Raphael. Wires
Neuwirth Eleanor

May 16
'Voyage avec Marcel Khalifé'
Orchestre national d’Île-de-France 

May 17
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Mariss Jansons
Gerhild Romberger mezzo-soprano
Sommer Antigone
Mahler Kindertotenlieder
Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances
Encores by Schubert and Bartók

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Each Friday night, the PSO's Music Director Manfred Honeck introduces a concert performance from the archives. (The series started with Mahler's Fifth Symphony recorded in the Philharmonie, Berlin on September 11, 2011, and followed by a post-concert conversation with PSO musicians Neal Berntsen, William Caballero and Micah Wilkinson. Now available to watch.) Enjoy the performance on the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's website (registration required).

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam – Mahler Festival

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra launches its Mahler Festival Online, an alternative to the Mahler Festival that was scheduled to take place in Amsterdam from May 8 to 17. This new alternative festival includes an extensive line-up of digital programming: more than 25 streams will be shown via social media and on the orchestra's website. Mahler symphonies have been selected from the Concertgebouworkest collection of recent recordings, including performances led by past chief conductors Mariss Jansons and Bernard Haitink.

In addition to the symphonies, there will be two live streamed concerts from an empty Concertebouw. Om May 13, at 12.30pm (CET), the baritone Thomas Oliemans will perform a programme of several Mahler’s songs taken from Hans und Grethe and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. And on May 15 at 12.30pm (CET), the Alma Quartet, comprised of members of the Concertgebouw’s orchestra, will perform an arrangement of the Adagietto from Mahler's Symphony No 5 and – together with pianist Nino Gvetadze – part of the Piano Quartet in A minor.

Before the performances, at 8pm, the RCOA will be showing a documentary about Mahler and his world. Each will introduce the composer’s symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde. Musicians and experts such as Anna Stoll Knecht, Roderick Williams, Lahav Shani and Thomas Hampson express their thoughts. The composer’s life story is told by his granddaughter Marina Mahler. The interview with Jessye Norman took place last summer, just a few weeks before her untimely death. In an inspiring way, Norman reflects on Mahler's music and her performances in The Concertgebouw. 

Every day at 3.00pm (CET) a member of the orchestra will introduce the evening’s 8.30pm symphony with a special presentation. The programme is:

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Since the beginning of April, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic has been performing weekly on stage with up to 40 musicians at any one time, offering regular live concerts on their website, Facebook and established online platform Konserthuset Play, while public events continue to be on hold.

The programme for the next three weeks is:

May 20 at 7pm (CET)
Royal Stockholm PO / Alan Gilbert
Nina Stemme soprano

Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Wagner Wesendonck Lieder (orch Mottl)
Schubert Symphony No 8, 'Unfinished'

May 27 at 7pm (CET)
Royal Stockholm PO / Martin Fröst clarinet

Piazzolla Oblivión (version for clarinet and string orchestra)
Copland Clarinet Concerto
Beethoven Symphony No 1

San Francisco Symphony 

The San Francisco Symphony have made available all documentary and concert episodes of Michael Tilson Thomas and the SFS’s groundbreaking 'Keeping Score' project for unlimited free streaming on the Symphony’s YouTube channel. From Beethoven's Eroica, via Berlioz, Mahler and Copland to Stravinsky, MTT is the perfect guide to a wealth of symphonic music.

Seattle Symphony [updated]

Benaroya Hall, the home of Gramophone’s 2018 Orchestra of the Year, announced that all public events have been cancelled until March 31, 2020 in an effort to reduce the spread of the Covid-19. The Seattle Symphony will continue sharing performances through video rebroadcasts and live-streams throughout the month on YouTube and Facebook.

The Seattle Symphony is organizing additional free livestreams and rebroadcasts until the orchestra can return to the Benaroya Hall stage. Concerts will, be streamed on Thursdays at 7.30 (PST), Saturdays at 8pm (PST) and Sundays ay 2pm (PST). This week's work will be Schumann's Symphony No 2, and will be conducted the SSO's Music Director Thomas Dausgaard.

The SSO are also featuring an all-new programme, 'Meet the Tuba' with Principal Tuba John DiCesare. 'Meet the Tuba' will air on Friday, March 27, at 11 am (PST); viewers can tune in on YouTube and Facebook.

Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth 

Filmed at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Les Siècles perform two Beethoven symphonies, Nos 5 and 7, under the baton their founder and chief conductor François-Xavier Roth in the beautiful historic theatre.

Watch on France.TV until March 14, 2021

Opera & Choral

American Symphony Orchestra

American Symphony Orchestra has launched ASO Online, a new digital initiative in collaboration with Bard's Fisher Center. Streaming content will alternate each week between live video recordings of operas from Bard’s SummerScape festival featuring the ASO as the orchestra-in-residence, and symphonic audio recordings from the ASO’s past seasons. 
 
The streaming series opens with SummerScape's 2019 production of Erich Korngold's rarely-performed opera Das Wunder der Heliane ('The Miracle of Heliane'), performed at the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater, in Christian Räth's production, and is available now to watch at ASO Online. 

Leon Botstein conducts the ASO and Bard Festival Chorale and a cast that includes Aušrinė Stundytė (Heliane), Alfred Walker (The Ruler), Daniel Brenna (The Stranger), Jennifer Feinstein (The Messenger), Nicholas Brownlee (The Porter) and David Cangelosi (Blind Chief Justice).

Other performances available are (audio only) William Grant Still's suite for orchestra, Africa, and a staged production by Thaddeus Strassberger, conducted by Botstein, of Anton Rubinstein's 1871 opera The Demon with Efim Zavalny in the title-role, Olga Tolkmit (Tamara), Nadezdah Babintseva (Angel), Ekaterina Egorova (Nanny), Aleksander Nesterenko (Sinodal), Iakov Strizhak (Old Servant), Andrei Valentii (Gudal) and Pavel Suliandziga (Messenger).

Staatsoper unter dem Linden, Berlin [updated]

Daniel Barenboim's Berlin opera house has announced a daily opera or ballet broadcast. The majority are conducted by Barenboim himself. The performances go live at 12 noon (CET) and are available for 24 hours.

The programme (April's performances are already listed on their website) is:

April 16: R Strauss Der Rosenkavalier 
Zubin Mehta conductor André Heller director
with Camilla Nylund, Michèle Losier, Günther Groissböck, Nadine Sierra, Roman Trekel

April 17: Prokofiev The Gambler  
Daniel Barenboim conductor Dmitri Tcherniakov director
with Vladimir Ognovenko, Kristine Opolais, Misha Didyk, Stefania Toczyska, Stephan Rügamer

April 18: Beethoven Piano Sonatas 
Daniel Barenboim pf 
Op 2 No 1; Op 2 No 3; op 2 No 2; Op 7; Op 10 No 1; Op 10 No 3; Op 10 No 2; Op 13 'Pathétique'

April 19: Massenet Manon 
Daniel Barenboim conductor Vincent Paterson director
with Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Alfredo Daza, Christof Fischesser, Remy Corazza

Bayerische Staatsoper 

The Bavarian State Opera is offering an alternative online schedule due to the closure of the theatre. The following filmed performances are available:

Until April 18 (at 11.59pm, CET)

Donizetti L'elisir d'amore conducted by Asher Fisch with Ailyn Pérez, Matthew Polenzani, Mario Cassi and Ambrogio Maestri

Until April 25 (at 11.59pm, CET)

R Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten conducted by Kirill Petrenko with Johann Botha, Adrianne Pieczonka, Deborah Polaski, Sebastian Holecek, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, Wolfgang Koch and Elena Pankratova

From April 18 - May 2

Mussorgky Boris Godunov

Bach's St John Passion – English Touring Opera

English Touring Opera broadcast a performance of JS Bach’s St John Passion which they gave in London on March 5 and which was due to tour nationally. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company took the decision to end the tour, cancelling the remaining 52 performances of its spring season. ETO made a commitment to its artists and audiences, honouring the entire company’s fees for the tour and developing new ways to keep music in the lives of the communities it serves. 

This debut broadcast by ETO weaves together footage of the live performance at the Hackney Empire, with 90 individual video contributions made by choir members in isolation from Cumbria to Cornwall who were due to participate in performances across the country.

English Touring Opera’s production of Bach’s St John Passion was broadcast from their YouTube channel at 4pm (BST) on Easter Sunday, April 12, and will be available to stream for one week. Use the hashtag #ETOStJohn to share your listening experience and connect with other audience members.  

Bach's St John Passion from Leipzig

On Good Friday afternoon, April 10, JS Bach's St John Passion was performed at Bach's tomb in St Thomas's Church in Leipzig in a chamber version. Harpsichordist Elina Albach and percussionist Philipp Lamprecht took the role of the orchestra, while for the chorales – besides the five singers in St Thomas's Church led by Thomaskantor Gotthold Schwarz – the artists and Bach choirs who were invited to the 2020 Bachfest participated by video link. 

The performance can still be watched on the Bach-Archiv's Facebook page. 

Metropolitan Opera, New York [updated]

The Met, currently closed, is offering a nightly opera broadcast (drawn from its extensive archives). 'We’d like to provide some grand opera solace to opera lovers in these extraordinarily difficult times,' said the Met's General Manager Peter Gelb. 'Every night, we’ll be offering a different complete operatic gem from our collection of HD presentations from the past 14 years.'

The operas will start at 7.30pm (EST), 00.30am (BST), 1.30am (CET) but will remain viewable for 23 hours at The Met's website.

The programme is:

Thursday, May 14
R Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos (from March 1988)
James Levine conductor
With Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and Tatiana Troyanos. 

Friday, May 15
Britten Peter Grimes (from March 2008)
Sir Donald Runnicles conductor
With Patricia Racette, Anthony Dean Griffey and Anthony Michaels-Moore.

Saturday, May 16
Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor (from November 1982)
Viewers’ Choice 00.30 (BST)
Richard Bonynge conductor
With Joan Sutherland, Alfredo Kraus, Pablo Elvira and Paul Plishka.

Sunday, May 17
Verdi Rigoletto (from February 2013)
Michele Mariotti conductor
With Diana Damrau, Oksana Volkova, Piotr Beczała and Željko Lučić.

Monday, May 18
Verdi Nabucco (from January 2017)
James Levine conductor
With Liudmyla Monastyrska, Jamie Barton, Russell Thomas, Plácido Domingo and Dmitry Belosselskiy. 

Tuesday, May 19
Mozart Idomeneo (from March 2017)
James Levine conductor
With Nadine Sierra, Elza van den Heever, Alice Coote and Matthew Polenzani. 

Wednesday, May 20
Wagner Lohengrin (from January 1986)
Classic Telecast 
James Levine conductor
With Eva Marton, Leonie Rysanek, Peter Hofmann, Leif Roar and John Macurdy. 

Thursday, May 21
Verdi Un ballo in maschera (from December 2012)
Fabio Luisi conductor
With Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe, Marcelo Álvarez and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. 

Friday, May 22
Puccini Turandot (from October 2019)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
With Christine Goerke, Eleonora Buratto, Yusif Eyvazov and James Morris. 

Saturday, May 23
Mozart Don Giovanni (from March 1978)
Viewers’ Choice
Richard Bonynge conductor
With Joan Sutherland, James Morris and Gabriel Bacquier. 

Sunday, May 24
Gounod Faust (from December 2011)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
With Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, Russell Braun and René Pape. 

Monday, May 25
Massenet Manon (from April 2012)
Fabio Luisi conductor
With Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała and Paulo Szot. 

Opéra de Paris

Since March 17, the Paris Opera has been putting many of its opera and ballet productions from its archives online free of charge. The performances are available, after registration, for one week on the Opéra National de Paris website. The complete programme is:

March 23 from 7.30pm (CET) - March 29: Mozart Don Giovanni (from 2019)
Conducted by Philippe Jordan
With Luca Pisaroni, Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Jacquelyn Wagner, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Philippe Sly, Mikhail Timoshenko and Zuzana Marková


March 30 - April 5: Tchaikovsky Swan Lake (from 2019)


April 6-12: Rossini The Barber of Seville (from 2014)


April 13-19: Tribute to Jerome Robbins (from 2018)


April 20-26: Offenbach The Tales of Hoffmann (from 2016)


April 27 - May 3: Bizet Carmen (from 2017)


March 17 - May 3: A cycle of Tchaikovsky's six symphonies played by the Orchestra of the Paris National Opera conducted by Philippe Jordan. 

Opera Philadelphia 

Opera Philadelphia hopes you are all staying healthy and connected during this unprecedented moment. For those missing the concert hall and the theatre, the company wants to share some video clips from their archive as ‘Opera own the couch’. Check out their YouTube page

Wagner's Parsifal from Teatro Massimo de Palermo conducted by Omer Meir Wellber

From Good Friday until July 9, 2020 you can watch Omer Meir Wellber conducting Richard Wagner's Parsifal, in Graham Vick's production, at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo on Arte Concert (with subtitles in German, English, French, Italian, Polish and Spanish). The cast includes Tómas Tómasson (Amfortas), Alexei Tanovitski (Titurel), John Relyea (Gurnemanz), Thomas Gazheli (Klingsor), Julian Hubbard (Parsifal) and Catherine Hunold (Kundry)

Teatro Real and Gran Teatre del Liceu

Spain’s two leading opera houses, Madrid’s Teatro Real and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu are teaming up to offer streamed operas during their enforced closure. Starting on March 19, they will be broadcasting opera on MyOperaPlayer.com.

The initial programme – it's somewhat lacking in detail so far – is Aida, Madama Butterfly, Roméo et Juliette, Un ballo in maschera, La traviata, La bohème and Macbeth. Other promised operas are Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rigoletto, Norma and Le nozze di Figaro.

Viewers should use the code OPERAENCASA when the site goes live.

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden [updated]

As productions and events are postponed or cancelled, the Royal Opera House has created a schedule of broadcasts and live content that audiences can access for free anywhere, anytime across the globe, bringing both ballet and opera to every home and every device. This will include the following productions and talks offered on demand and for free via the ROH’s Facebook and YouTube channels:

April 17 at 7pm (BST)
The Metamorphosis, Arthur Pita’s adaptation of Franz Kafka’s 1915 novella, with music by Frank Moon. The Royal Ballet (from 2013)

April 24 at 7pm (BST)
Britten Gloriana, The Royal Opera (from 2013)

May 1 at 7pm (BST)
Christopher Wheeldon, Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet, created his adaptation of Shakespeare’s late great romance The Winter’s Tale for The Royal Ballet in 2014, with designs by Bob Crowley and music by Joby Talbot

Royal Swedish Opera 

The Stockholm-based Royal Swedish Opera is currently focusing its energies on its digital channel, operanplay. You can watch its series of ‘Short Operas’, works created by Swedish composers - Value Creation by Viktor Åslund, Malin Hülphers's Jeg kommer hem ('I am coming home') and Andrea Tarrodi's Sigrid H, inspired by the Swedish artist Sigrid Hjertén. There's a great film in which we meet the composers and their librettists.

More mainstream fare comes in the form of Puccini's Madama Butterfly with the wonderful Asmik Grigorian in the title-role. Kirsten Harms directs and Lawrence Renes conducts. Again there's an excellent introductory film.

Royal Swedish Opera's much-praised 2017 Wagner Ring cycle can be sampled as Die Walküre is available to view. Directed by Steffan Valdemar Holm and conducted by Constantin Trinks, the cast includes Joachim Bäckström (Siegmund), Elisabet Strid (Sieglinde), Lennart Forsén (Hunding), Greer Grimsley (Wotan) and Ireene Theorin (Brünnhilde).

For the opera-phobic, there are a couple of concerts celebrating the art of the composer Armas Järnefelt who worked at the Royal Swedish Opera between 1907 and 1932. The first concert puts his music alongside that of his brother-in-law Jean Sibelius, and the second also includes music by Stenhammar.

And for ballet fans, Royal Swedish Ballet was be seen in Alexander Ekman's Eskapist, danced to music by Mikael Karlsson.

Just go to the Royal Swedish Opera's website

Vienna State Opera

The Wiener Staatsoper has closed its doors for the time being, but has decided to open its archive and will following as closely as possible the advertised programme until April 1. The performances can be accessed worldwide and free of charge. Each night’s opera or ballet will start at 7pm CET (6pm in the UK), with the exception of the four Ring operas which will start at 5pm (CET).

After registration the subscription can be booked free of charge until further notice.

The programme will run as follows:

March 25: Rossini La cenerentola
Speranza Scappucci conductor Sven-Eric Bechtolf director
Maxim Mironov (Don Ramiro), Alessio Arduini (Dandini), Renato Girolami (Don Magnifico), Eri Nakamura (Clorinda), Catherine Trottmann (Tisbe), Elena Maximova (Angelina), Michele Pertusi (Alidoro)

March 26: Puccini Tosca
Marco Armiliato conductor Margarethe Wallmann director
Karine Babajanyan (Floria Tosca), Piotr Beczała (Mario Cavaradossi), Carlos Álvarez (Baron Scarpia)

March 27: Mozart Le nozze di Figaro
Adam Fischer conductor Jean-Louis Martinoty director
Carlos Álvarez ( Count Almaviva), Dorothea Röschmann (Countess Almaviva), Andrea Carroll (Susanna), Adam Plachetka (Figaro), Margarita Gritskova (Cherubino)

March 28: Wagner Götterdämmerung
Axel Kober conductor Sven-Eric Bechtolf director
Stephen Gould (Siegfried), Iréne Theorin (Brünnhilde), Anna Gabler (Gutrune), Falk Struckmann (Hagen), Tomasz Konieczny (Gunther), Jochen Schmeckenbecher (Alberich), Waltraud Meier (Waltraute)

March 29: Gounod Roméo et Juliette
Plácido Domingo conductor Jürgen Flimm director
Aida Garifullina (Juliette), Rachel Frenkel (Stéphano), Rosie Aldridge (Gertrude), Juan Diego Flórez (Roméo), Carlos Osuna (Tybalt)

March 30: Mozart Le nozze di Figaro
Cornelius Meister conductor Jean-Louis Martinoty director
Pisaroni (Count Almaviva), Rachel Willis-Sørensen (Countess Almaviva), Valentina Naforniţă (Susanna), Alessio Arduini (Figaro), Marianne Crebassa (Cherubino)

March 31: Donizetti L’elisir d’amore
Speranza Scappucci conductor Otto Schenk director
Aida Garifullina (Adina), Benjamin Bernheim (Nemorino), Orhan Yildiz (Belcore), Paolo Rumetz (Doktor Dulcamara), Mariam Battistelli (Giannetta)

April 1: R Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten
Christian Thielemann conductor Vincent Huguet director
Stephen Gould (Emperor), Camilla Nylund (Empress), Evelyn Herlitzius (The Nurse), Wolfgang Bankl (The Messenger), Wolfgang Koch (Barak), Nina Stemme (The Dyer's Wife)

April 2: Grieg Peer Gynt (ballet)
Simon Hewett conductor Edward Clug choreography and libretto
Denys Cherevychko (Peer Gynt), Nina Poláková (Solveig), Eno Peci (Der Tod), Zsolt Török (Ein Hirsch), Franziska Wallner-Hollinek (Åse)

Operavision

Supported by the European Commission’s Creative Europe Programme, the freeview streaming platform OperaVision announces a new programme of twice-weekly streams during the period of the Covid-19 crisis.

Following OperaVision's focus on Mozart operas – five performances of five Mozart operas from five European opera companies streamed on-demand for six months – it turns its attention to Italian opera with two new operas added each week in the evening and viewable, for free, at OperaVision (check below for duration of availability)

March 17 Don Giovanni – Finnish National Opera
March 20 Die Entführung aus dem Serail – Glyndebourne
March 24 Lucio Silla – La Monnaie / De Munt
March 27 Le nozze di Figaro – Garsington Opera
March 31 Il sogno di Scipione – Teatro La Fenice

April 3 Gluck Alceste – La Fenice, Venice (available for six months)
April 7 Rossini Guillaume Tell – Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro (three months)
April 10 – Mozart Così fan tutte – Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (one month)
April 14 – Verdi I due Foscari – Festival Verdi, Parma (six months)
April 17 – Verdi Nabucco – Festival Verdi, Parma (six months)
April 21 – Verdi Il trovatore – National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing (six months)

Chamber, Solo and Small Ensemble

Caramoor Livestream 

The music festival in Katonah in New York State is closed to audiences, but the music plays on with the launch of Caramoor Livestream. The concerts are as follows:

April 4 at 8pm (EST)
Streaming live from the Music Room catch composer-pianist Vijay Iyer, a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, in concert.

April 18 at 8pm (EST)
Streaming live from the Music Room pianist Aaron Diehl appears, in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, with his own trio, which features Aaron Kimmel on drums and Paul Sikivie on bass.

April 26 at 3pm (EST)
Streaming live from the Music Room is Conrad Tao, an artist of 'probing intellect and open-hearted vision' (New York Times), known for his innovative juxtapositions of old and new.

Hastings International Piano

Hastings International Piano, the charity responsible for the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition and the Hastings International Piano Festival, has launched an online concert series to support the careers of their prizewinners in this time of international crisis. Curator and Managing Director of Hastings International Piano, Ian Roberts, says 'It is so important to help and support young exceptional talent who are forging ahead with their careers. The current situation musicians find themselves in has denied them the opportunity to perform all over the world with ensembles, orchestras and as solo artists. Our on-line concert series is our own way of providing a regular performance opportunity and continuing to support our past and current competition winners in their future development and endeavours.'

The short recitals air every Friday evening on Facebook at 7pm (GMT) and on the HIP website. The concerts are free to view, but viewers are able to make a voluntary donation to Hastings International Piano Engagement Fund, or choose to join as a Friend while watching.

National Centre for Early Music’s Early Music Day 

The York-based National Centre for Early Music will streaming two concerts on Sunday, March 21. At 1pm (GMT), Steven Devine will be giving a harpsichord recital focusing on Bach Preludes and Fugues, and at 6pm The Brabant Ensemble will perform 'A Monk’s Life: Music from the Cloisters, 1550-1620'.

Catch the two concerts on the NCEM's Facebook page.

Budapest Festival Orchestra 

The Budapest Festival Orchestra's founder and Music Director, Iván Fischer, has launched a new concert series, 'Quarantee Soirées', in response to the worldwide musical shutdown. The chamber concerts will come live from the BFO's Rehearsal Hall and will be free to view online at the BFO's Facebook streaming page (operational when the concert is about to start). Full details on the Budapest Festival Orchestra's site. The concerts start at 7.45pm (CET).

Konzerthaus Berlin

A starry line-up of musical talent gathers – in ones and twos – at Berlin’s Konzerthaus for a live-streamed concert which will be available to watch via rbbKultur. Lang Lang, Daniel Hope and Jacques Ammon, Max Raabe and Christoph Israel as well as Avi Avital, Olga Peretyatko and Sayako Kusaka will be providing the music-making from 7pm (CET), 6pm (GMT), 1pm (EST) on Wednesday, March 18. The concert remains available to watch on the Konzerthaus's website.

Lincoln Center at Home

Schools may be closed but Lincoln Center Pop-Up Classroom is open. Tune in to Facebook Live every weekday at 10am (EST) for a daily dose of creativity. Led by some of the world’s leading artists and educators, each creative learning activity utilizes simple materials found at home to help families with children explore a variety of art forms. Each classroom will remain available on Facebook after the live broadcast, so families can access whenever is most convenient. Early topics include creating expressive puppets from simple at home objects; writing a song with lyrics…and singing it; mMaking woven works of art with recycled material like junk mail and cardboard boxes; Dance lessons to get everyone up and moving.

For family audiences, there's Concerts for Kids, Lincoln Center is teaming up with a remarkable group of artists who will bring world-class performances and diverse musical perspectives straight from their homes to yours. Drop in on these short performances recorded by the artists themselves with your family at home, beginning next week. First up are Elena Moon Park, Zeshan B, The Pop Ups, and Sonia De Los Santos. Check the web calendar for new events.

From the archives of Lincoln Center’s resident organisations comes a trove of video, including rarely seen footage from decades of Live From Lincoln Center, more recent performances from across campus, and live streams from wherever performances are still happening – empty halls, living rooms, and more. Highlights this week include

March 24 at 4pm (EST)– Brooklyn Raga Massive in Lincoln Center's Offstage series

March 27 at 4pm (EST) – Simple Gifts: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Shaker Village

March 28 at 4pm (EST) – Joan Soriano’s steel string bachata from the David Rubenstein Atrium

St Mary’s Perivale 


The deconsecrated church of St Mary's Perivale, a stone's throw from the A40 Western Avenue to the west of London, has been uploading and more recently live-streaming concerts for several years. Under retired physician and keen amateur pianist and organist Hugh Mather, this policy is set to continue even without a live audience with the planned schedule of two or three concerts each week.

Live-streamed and recent concerts can be watched on YouTube as well as (possibly in better quality) on Vimeo. (There are also more than 330 videos of individual works recorded between 2009 and 2018 on YouTube ).

The Greene Space (WQXR)

Pianist Jeremy Denk curates and performs a series of events exploring Bach’s life and work as artist-in-residence at The Greene Space at WQXR. With the postponement of the March 20 concert, join him on  the rescheduled April 7 at 7pm (EST) for analysis and interpretation as he launches his residency with a deep dive into four of the most fascinating moments from Book 1 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Denk will draw audiences into the technical, musicological, cultural and philosophical elements involved in his own approach to this deeply personal work, and through this series ‘look at how these timeless themes and shared aspects of the human experience can help to unite us in these divided times’.

Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City

Last Thursday, in lieu of its weekly 'Pipes at One concert', Trinity Church Wall Street streamed one of their favourite concerts from the archive on Facebook. Here is a 'Time's Arrow' concert with Janet Yieh (organ), Melissa Baker (flute) and Melissa Attebury (mezzo-soprano) from March 2019.

92Y [updated]

92Y's live streamed concerts have become phenomenally popular, with more than 1.7 million views worldwide. May's concerts (some ticketed, some free) have been announced (all start at 7.30pm EST)

May 14
Peter Serkin pf
His last concert from 92Y from 2018
Mozart Adagio in B Minor, K540; Sonata in B flat, K570
Bach Goldberg Variations
TICKETS: Free
Watch here

May 19 
Jesse Mills vn Rieko Aizawa pf
Schubert Sonata No 2 in A Minor, D385 'Sonatina'
Harbison Ten Micro-Waltzes
Poulenc Violin Sonata
Followed by informal chat with Performance Today's Fred Child
TICKETS: $10
Watch here

May 21
Vienna Piano Trio
Haydn Piano Trio in E Minor, HobXV:12
Brahms Piano Trio No 3 in C Minor, Op 101
Beethoven Piano Trio No 7 in B flat, Op 97, 'Archduke'
Watch here

May 26
Roderick Williams bar Julius Drake pf Adam Gopnik narrator
Beethoven An die Ferne Geliebte, Op 98
Brahms 15 Romances on L Tieck's Die schöne Magelone, Op. 33
Watch here

May 28
Pepe Romero guitar
Music by Bach, Barrios, Torroba, Yradier/Tárrega, C Romero & Rodrigo
Followed by informal chat with Performance Today's Fred Child
TICKETS: $10
Watch here