Eugene Symphony to show off its Soundwaves, streaming soon from the Hult Center
Gossamer strains flowed from symphonic strings in the Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall last week, an invigorating reminder of live music’s vitality.
“It’s nice when it’s freshly baked, isn’t it?” Eugene Symphony associate executive director Lindsey McCarthy said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, that’s what that feels like.’ ”
On April 22, the Eugene Symphony was at the Hult Center to record the fifth installment of “Symphony Soundwaves,” the centerpiece of its pivot to streaming shows.
“Soundwaves V” will feature three modern composer works that build up to 19th-century composer Antonín Dvořák’s “Serenade for Strings, Op. 22.” Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong aims for a theme that floats in like the return of sunlight in the spring. With the concert streaming free for a week, the symphony hopes these uplifting sounds reach as many ears as possible.
Eugene Symphony set to release three virtual concerts kezi.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kezi.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Then COVID-19 changed everything.
Now the Eugene Symphony has returned to the Hult Center stage for a virtual performance, using the Hult’s new cameras purchased with state arts funding made available from the CARES Act to record the concert. With the new equipment, the upcoming symphony concert is the first of upcoming streamable performances from the Hult’s two stages.
Hult Center General Manager Theresa Sizemore says at the start of the pandemic the venue used the downtime as an opportunity to make some enhancements to the stage. Because the Hult is owned and operated by the city of Eugene, when it was awarded money from the CARES Act, the money could only be used to buy PPE-related material and to cover business recovery costs, such as cameras to help bring people back to the stage.