Kuan Cheng Lu, a violinist in the New York Philharmonic, performs solo Bach works at one of Lincoln Center’s free mini concerts for healthcare providers, teachers, and other essential workers.
“There haven’t been any live public performances at America’s biggest arts center since mid-March,” writes Anastasia Tsioulcas on Wednesday’s (8/12) National Public Radio. “But New York’s Lincoln Center has been hosting some free mini concerts for healthcare providers, teachers and other essential workers, featuring just one or two volunteer musicians and audiences of five, max. The musicians are volunteers from the New York Philharmonic, one of Lincoln Center’s constituent organizations. One of the performers is Kuan Cheng Lu, a Taiwanese first violinist who joined the orchestra 16 years ago. On a recent Friday evening, he chose to play some solo Bach…. The violinist and the audience were by themselves in a quiet grove of trees.… Each performance lasts about 15 minutes, and each guest can bring up to four family members. Everyone is masked and socially distanced…. Hearing Lu play brought them a little closer to their pre-coronavirus life.… Between each performance, employees from the arts center spray the audience chairs with disinfectant…. Jeffrey Ellis-Lee, who teaches at the Maxine Greene High School for Imaginative Inquiry, … started tearing up while listening to Lu play…. ‘I don’t want to sound clichéd, but it really soothed the soul,’ said Ellis-Lee.”
