The “Phil”, directed by Esa-Pekka Salonen, found his fans Wednesday after thirteen months of separation. Not without emotion and strict health control.
« On behalf of all of us on stage, welcome back Composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen told the Shed audience on Wednesday evening. After a historic hiatus of more than thirteen months due to the health crisis, the New York Philharmonic gave its first public performance. ” We dreamed of this moment for a long time ».
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« I’m a little euphoric right now »Continued violinist Frank Huang in turn. Unable to perform at Geffen Hall, one of the halls of the refurbished Lincoln Center for the Performing Art, the orchestra performed at the Shed Cultural Center in Hudson Yards, about 2 miles away. In total, they were 23 musicians, all masked, to perform on stage, in front of an audience, also masked, of 150 people, in this room that can accommodate up to 1200. A one hour program, during which they have interpreter Entr’acte by Caroline Shaw, Loving by Jean Silbelius and Metamorphoses by Richard Strauss.
« The three works we’ve chosen to perform tonight all share a sense of moan, longing, and loss, elevated to something deeply human by sheer beauty. Said Salonen, adding that no program could sum up in an hour the feelings and emotions felt after those long months. ” We should see tonight’s concert as a new beginning, a signal for happier times to come, filled with music and other things that make sense of our existence in this troubled world. », He concluded.
Negative test and electronic tickets
Health protocols oblige, the public was controlled. Each person must first have a negative test or present proof of vaccination dating back at least 14 days. After which, the temperature of each spectator was taken at the entrance. Also for the sake of hygiene, the tickets were all electronic.
On stage, the conductor who is also musical director of the San Francisco Symphony and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London recalled the importance of human contact. ” If there is one thing that we musicians have loved over these 14 months or so, it is that nothing – absolutely nothing – can replace the act and ritual of a live concert. “. And to continue: “Music, of course, exists on many different levels: in written form using the complex system of symbols we call notation; in the form of recordings on various media; or perhaps most importantly, in our memory and in our dreams.A statement that earned him a long standing ovation from the audience.
The New York Philharmonic hopes to resume concerts on a regular basis as early as September. For now, the musicians already have a number of certain dates, including the Picnic Performances which is held every year at Bryant Park called Picnic Performances, with four nights starting on June 9.
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