BGSU virtual concerts offer music to the public

If social distancing is starting to wear thin and you miss attending concerts and interacting with others, Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts is offering a musical experience to ease that void a bit.

Starting Friday (March 27), the college is offering the Kobacker and Bryan Virtual Concert Hall Series, featuring two concerts a week through April 25.

The series, which can be enjoyed online, is the college’s response to the current coronavirus environment. Students are taking their instruction 100 percent online; many families are finding themselves at home and adjusting to life and learning in different ways; and the college has had to cancel concerts, guest artists and speakers, said Dr. William Mathis, dean of the College of Musical Arts.

In an effort to “rethink many of our traditional practices in music,” the dean said, the college has developed the concert series to use “music — a vital, powerful and therapeutic force — to connect us even when we may be physically isolated from each other.”

The concerts, which will be released each week on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8, will be available through the college’s YouTube Channel. The concerts can be watched as a YouTube Premieres event while interacting with a virtual audience, or watched later at your convenience.

“We have selected a diverse mix of concerts that puts the talents of our faculty and students front and center,” Mathis said. The complete 10-concert series schedule follows (each concert premieres at 8 p.m.)

• March 27: 100 years of Philharmonia: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
• March 28: Faculty Artist Series: Keith Phares
• April 3: Wind Symphony
• April 4: Faculty Artist Series: Caroline Chin
• April 10: Faculty Artist Series: Collage Concert Part I
• April 11: Faculty Artist Series: Collage Concert Part II
• April 17: New Music Festival 2019 Concert V
• April 18: Faculty Artist Series: Composer’s Forum
• April 24: Faculty Artist Series: Jazz Concert
• April 25: A Cappella and Collegiate Chorale