“ ‘We started with the assumption, if there’s any way we can have live music, we want to,’ said Celia Mann Baehr, President and CEO of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra,” writes Lawrence Specker in Tuesday’s (8/25) AL.com (Alabama). “From that beginning, the MSO … recently unveiled plans for a 2020-21 season that will begin with a ‘Festival of Strings’ concert [with] musicians on the stage of the Mobile Saenger Theatre and listeners in the seats…. The MSO will play shorter concerts…. It will play more of them, four in a weekend rather than two…. The audience is being limited to 400 people, about a fifth of the venue’s capacity…. ‘This is our 10th iteration before we put anything out,’ Mann Baehr confirmed. She credited Music Director Scott Speck with building a program that … can change as the state’s guidance does…. MSO leaders concluded that rules for physical distancing mean the Saenger stage can hold 31 performers…. The MSO also will offer ticketholders the option of watching performances online…. Going online-only would be easier. The effort required to safely bring together performers and listeners reveals just how important [live music] is.”
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