One year ago, vocalist Jennifer Davis was eager about the upcoming Starkville-MSU Symphony Association concert, a highlight of the Orchestra and Community Chorus spring season. Rehearsals were all but done. Finishing touches were falling into place. Friends had it on their calendars. Then, the music stopped, when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020.
Abruptly, the concert Davis and fellow association members looked forward to was called off. No one realized then how long all the cancellations would go on. Playing instruments and singing are passions for the musicians and chorus members. All of a sudden, in the face of a virus readily spread by respiratory droplets, those activities were considered dangerous.
What followed was a year of caution, frustration and, for too many, grief. Concern for health has certainly been the top priority, but the loss of access to live performance and the arts has had an impact on community life.
Haley Montgomery is president of the association board.
“Our symphony has been around for over 50 years,” she remarked. “We saw all across the country (orchestras and choruses) were just shuttering for the year, canceling their whole season at the outset of the year. But it’s challenging because we’re a traditional part of the community and people certainly look forward to these concerts.”
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The nonprofit organization searched for ways to maintain their presence and community connection, even as one concert after another was rescheduled and then canceled again as the pandemic dragged on.
“There was so much up in the air,” said Montgomery. “Our board, through the summer, we were still trying to move forward. We wanted to host concerts if we could.” All ideas were considered — smaller venues, ensembles instead of a whole choir or orchestra, outdoor performances.
“Whatever we chose to do, it would have to be in a way that was safe for our musicians, singers, staff and patrons,” Montgomery added. “It’s not just the two and a half hours on stage, we have to keep everyone safe during all the rehearsal time.”
Due largely to CDC, university and venue guidelines, live performances for most of the year proved too challenging.
The group went into fall 2020 hopeful, but increased virus spread forestalled traditional concerts. Properly socially distancing the orchestra, conducted by Barry Kopetz of Mississippi State University, wasn’t feasible in any area venue. The chorus was more flexible; it doesn’t require as much physical space. Finally in November 2020, those singers — masked — led by Community Chorus Conductor Peter Infanger, presented a choral performance outdoors at the Greensboro Center in Starkville.
Infanger said much of the past year was spent waiting for experts to advise on what could or couldn’t be done.
“And we couldn’t do anything for most of 2020,” he said. For the November performance, “We practiced all the things we were supposed to practice. … The audience came and sat spread out. It felt like it was done in a very spaced way.”
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A signature element of the association annual season is its Programs for Children.
“It was greatly changed this (past) year,” Montgomery noted. What would normally be an integrated program of art and music consisting of multiple concerts for area school children, as well as a performance for the public, adapted to a virtual curriculum teachers can use as a resource in the classroom.
On the financial front, a year on hold has been challenging for all nonprofit organizations, including the association.
“But we rely on our donors, and we had a number of community donors as well as a few small grants and contributions,” Montgomery said. “We’ve been very grateful that our donors have stuck with us.”
The association has worked hard to position itself to continue to be able to offer concerts at no admission charge.
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In addition to changes and challenges, the year of COVID has been frustrating for musicians and singers who simply want to perform.
“For me, singing is something I enjoy doing with my husband, and I do it professionally,” said chorus member Davis, also the choral director at Starkville High School. “There’s been a little bit of selfishness that it has taken that away from me.” The year has been at times a stressful balance of deciding how to create the art she loves while still being low risk and not intentionally hurting anyone, Davis shared.
Montgomery said, “I think for our musicians there was an obvious emotional toll of not being able to (perform). It’s their passion, their excitement, what they’ve chosen to do for their life’s work.”
The group is a tight community and part of the fun is getting together, said chorus member and board member Elizabeth Hawkins. For the past 12 months, that has been all but curtailed.
“But the organization has found other ways to be relevant, she said, noting the Programs for Children as well as continued scholarships. “Those behind-the-scenes things are still happening, but the very public concerts have not. That has caused us to be creative in finding ways to keep ourselves functioning … ”
The effort helps draw the group together as a family, Montgomery said. And a choral concert planned for Sunday, March 28 outside the Greensboro Center signals what all the members hope is a turning point.
“We’re looking at real possibilities of being able to open up again,” said Montgomery. “We’re hopeful about next fall and already looking in that direction.”
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The Starkville/MSU Symphony Association Community Chorus presents “Classical Jazz” at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 28 on the lawn of the Greensboro Center at the corner of Greensboro and Louisville Streets in Starkville.
Conducted by Infanger and accompanied at the keyboard by James Allen, the chorus will be joined by soloists Roza Tulyagonova, Garrett Torbert and Christopher Withrow in Schubert’s “Mass in G Major” with Jeanette Fontaine presenting classic jazz numbers in the program’s second half. The performance also features George Shearing’s jazzy “Songs and Sonnets” using texts by William Shakespeare.
The audience is encouraged to bring blankets or chairs and picnic baskets to enjoy this outdoor presentation that celebrates the onset of spring and renewed hope for a full symphony season to come.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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