Performing again

After a year of lockdown, the orchestra is again doing some live concerts. In the meantime, we have been doing recordings from home. Recently I did a joint interview with the Embassy of Colombia in the U.S. about a documentary video that we have been doing with the orchestra called “Contra el Olvido”. Performing live with the orchestra has been strange and a bit of a challenge. We have been using shields to separate us and of course that means it is hard to hear one another. Psychologically, it has been a challenge for me at times because they refuse to rehearse outside or give concerts outside. This has been very frustrating at times and I think it has been a missed opportunity as well. One of the rehearsals was done in a rather closed room without much ventilation and went against an agreement that was made with the health group of the orchestra…but that was overruled and we proceeded. Worse, there was a movie recording that we did in a recording studio. These episodes seem very ill advised to me and I have stated this forcefully but to no avail. The hurry to push us into halls again seems imprudent and unnecessary to me especially when we can see the end of tunnel. We are close to safety but not there yet. Furthermore, unlike some countries, we have no wide distribution of vaccines yet. If that was not bad enough, I have a roommate (also in the orchestra) at the moment that doesn’t believe in the vaccine!! I think he is a selfish idiot and that only adds to the stress of the moment. The other day I heard that the orchestra is going ahead with their plans for large works with choir etc…¿¿¿ I am trying to keep my head about what seems illogical. I’d prefer an abundance of caution until the pandemic is more firmly under control.

So, I am trying to get back into my regular practice and rhythm. That might take me a bit of time and now I have my homemade bread orders that I have to fill.