While Severance Hall is dark, and is likely to remain so for months to come, Cleveland Orchestra musicians haven’t been idle. Many of them have found ways to keep performing and connecting with audiences (you can hear five of them at this week’s concert from the Rocky River Chamber Music Society on Monday December 7).
Recently, they filmed a series of videos in locations around northeast Ohio, including businesses, restaurants, landmarks and the Cleveland Clinic, called Music Medicine Initiative. Led by the orchestra’s assistant concertmaster Jessica Lee, these videos, featuring small ensembles of musicians from the orchestra, are intended to soothe souls wearied by dealing with the pandemic, including health care workers, patients and community members. It’s an extension of the orchestra’s longtime collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic to connect music and medicine and explore the healing role of music.
“As the pandemic hit us, I saw the deep stress and pain experienced by frontline workers and those affected by COVID-19,” says Lee in the press release. “There was also an enormous sense of isolation and a hunger for beauty around the world, so as I began this project I focused on the words ‘community’ and ‘connection,’ two things we are all especially longing for right now. This is what led me to film these videos in some of our beloved businesses in the Greater Cleveland community, to bring the joy of these places back into people’s lives while we are less able to visit and enjoy them. Music has the unique power to unite and heal where words cannot, and it is my hope that through these videos, we will lift the spirits of healthcare workers, patients and our entire community.”
These videos are being released weekly on the Cleveland Orchestra’s social media including Facebook and YouTube. Go here to listen to the debut video.