The Victoria Symphony has announced that it is moving all of its concerts online during the COVID-19 crisis. Starting October 1, a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons can be streamed on the symphony’s website.
“We’re trying to continue to evolve with the way the world is working,” says Victoria Symphony director of marketing Jill Smillie. “Obviously we can’t have a live audience, nor can we have all our musicians on stage, so we’re filming things and then posting them on our website.”
The recorded performances will be available for 30 days; Smillie is happy to see the musicians back in action.
“They haven’t played together in six months,” Smillie says about the symphony. “To see them, and hear their emotion and passion? That’s why I’m excited.”
Not only is the symphony coming online, but it’s available to stream at no cost to the audience. Smillie says that instead of the usual ticket costs, Victoria Symphony—the largest non-profit music organization on Vancouver Island—will be asking for donations to keep things running through the upcoming seasons.
“We will be asking for donations because we’re still continuing to keep musicians engaged,” she says. “Our costs are still significant, and we don’t have any ticket revenue, so we’re hoping that people will continue to support us by making a donation.”
The rest of the virtual season is still being finalized, but Smillie says that there will most likely be a concert every two or three weeks.
“It’s hard to program long-term when the rules are changing all the time,” she says. “I guess the theme here is ‘maybe.’ Nothing is off the table aside from full concerts like we traditionally have.”
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is a classic, but the orchestra isn’t limited to playing classical music exclusively.
“We play the traditional Mozart and Beethoven, but we also do new music too. We’ve done shows with Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz where we showed the movie while we played the score, we also had The Best of Queen a couple of years ago… It’s fairly robust and diverse programs that we play.” says Smillie. “We like to say ‘there’s something for everybody.’”
Although this season is not the same as it would have been a few months ago, the symphony is looking forward to telling the community they’re back in business.
“You’re going to see some people who are going to be thrilled with it, and you’re going to see some people who are going to miss the in-person experience,” says Smillie. “It’s not intended to replace the live experience; it’s intended to keep connected.”
Four Seasons
Starting at 7:30 pm Thursday, October 1
Free, donations accepted
victoriasymphony.ca