St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Associate Concertmaster Celeste Golden Boyer and Assistant Concertmaster Erin Schreiber arranged and performed “Over the Rainbow” as a duet from their homes. That performance and others are posted on the orchestra’s Instagram account.
“The coronavirus may have shuttered Powell Hall, but it didn’t stop the musicians of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from doing what they do best: playing and sharing music,” writes Jen Roberts in Friday’s (4/17) St. Louis Magazine (MO). “Scroll through the SLSO Instagram account, and you’ll find videos of front-porch concerts, duets synched through technology, and even a violin solo with a dog howling along for added effect…. Thomas Jöstlein, associate principal horn, has found that his neighbors and his front yard are the perfect audience and stage for his alphorn. He started giving nightly concerts on March 17.… Bassoonist Felicia Foland has also been giving concerts from her porch…. ‘My playlist is curated by 3- to 11-year-olds,’ she says, laughing…. Celeste Golden Boyer, second associate concertmaster, reached out to assistant concertmaster Erin Schreiber about playing a duet together…. They decided to play ‘Over the Rainbow.’ … Schreiber arranged the music, [and] the two violinists practiced the duet over speakerphone before recording, first Schreiber and then Golden Boyer, while listening to Schreiber in her headphones…. Jöstlein likes to think of the mini-concerts as a bridge to ‘that time where we can all be on stage together again.’ ”
