As musicians across the world suffer concert cancellations and a substantial loss of income as a result, Ben Morales Frost is doing his bit to unite them and raise awareness of their plight. The London-based film composer completed his orchestral work Flight Fantastic just weeks before the spread of Covid-19 meant that musicians could no longer perform professionally. Last week, Frost posted a plea on social media for instrumentalists to learn the work as part of a new Lockdown Orchestra. Within 24 hours, more than 500 musicians from six continents had signed up.

Two days ago, all participants received their instrumental parts; they now have until midnight tomorrow to learn them, record them and send back their sound files. At this point, Frost and seven volunteer audio and video editors from around the world will piece the tracks together to form one huge video of 521 musicians playing the same piece of music – described by Frost as ‘a joyous, soaring, fun piece … a counter to the current mood’ – in a virtual concert hall. The big reveal is on Friday March 27 at 8pm (GMT) via Frost’s YouTube channel.