David
On March 8th, 2020, Chatter, an Albuquerque-based chamber music organization, played its 600th Sunday morning concert. Along with local poets, Chatter performed the music of Arvo Pärt and a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody for string quartet, piano and cello. For many musicians, and for David, Chatter’s artistic director, and violinist with the NM Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and Santa Fe Pro Musica, this would be the last time they played with an orchestra for well over a year.
Within days, all gatherings and performances began to post cancelations as news circulated of the virus’ spread in New Mexico. At first, it seemed there was promise of rescheduling – the anticipation that concerts could return outside in the warm summer months. But, when May turned to June and the number of infections continued to soar, in crept the inevitable reality that live music, theatre or gatherings of any form, would simply need to remain a distant hope.
“Our whole business is based on crowds gathering. Audiences and people gathering together to perform together,” David explains. “In one day, basically, everything just stopped for us. Not collapsed necessarily – it just stopped. But it was also a time to get creative.”
Like many other orchestras, Chatter began live streaming performances in June – as a reminder that the music would continue and return again in person one day. “I got a little emotional when we did our first live stream and I got on stage and started playing,” David says. “I hadn’t played for several months and I thought, ‘Where are we? What alternative universe are we paralleling with our own?’”
The live streams created a digital community – a way for listeners to connect, in some way – and hear something, experience something, different in a time when isolation and monotony lingered almost as strong as the virus itself. But, rare in-person and socially-distanced solo performances showcased the true power of live sounds and direct human connection.
Through a program with the Santa Fe Symphony, David and other musicians played ten minutes for an individual listener and then rotated to another listener – allowing people to hear music, safely and in a live setting. “A guy came in with a little glass of wine and I played some Telemann,” David says. “And the guy just started crying. He couldn’t believe the sound. He was pretty overwhelmed and it struck me, too. I had no idea it would be that way.”
Oliver Sachs once wrote, in discussing the importance of sound and music in brain function, that: “Music, uniquely among the arts, is both completely abstract and profoundly emotional. It has no power to represent anything particular or external, but it has a unique power to express inner states or feelings. Music can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation.”
In this period of COVID, when so many of us exist in those “inner states,” it is not surprising that both audiences – and musicians – react to the sound, the energy and connection of live performance, as limited as it may be. And it makes the work of the musicians all the more exceptional and necessary.
When gatherings are permitted again – maybe in April or May – David says he’s already begun considering Chatter’s opening performance. It may be Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” for the hope and optimism it conveys. And when the day comes that music can once again be experienced broadly and in-person, it won’t just be the music that attracts the audiences.
“People miss the community of people who like this music. It’s a really close-knit community,” David explains. “That’s the primary reason we’re around – is the community. People do love the music and they come for that, but they come very much for the community. I think that spills over to every concert. People want to be around other people, sharing in the same experience.”
