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Gilmore Festival Helps People Find Virtual Concerts

Renowned pianist Igor Levit, in a hoodie and sock feet, played music by Franz Schubert in his Berlin living room this afternoon. Anyone who wanted could follow along on Twitter (where you can still watch the performance,and catch the next one). Kalamazoo's Gilmore Keyboard Festival, which had to cancel all of its spring 2020 concerts, helped people find the feed.

The Festival is doing its best to connect people with live classical music, even if they can only watch and listen on a screen.

"You choose to be a musician because you can’t help but make music, and it’s wonderful to see that there is still an outlet, that this can still happen for folks," Gilmore Director Pierre van der Westhuizen said of Levit's concert, which he planned to watch.

"He’s one of my favorite artists and so intimately connected with our organization," he added. Levit received the Gilmore Artist Award in 2018 and was scheduled to play at the 2020 Festival.

The Gilmore's Twitter feed is one place to watch for virtual concerts. Westhuizen noted that the Guardian newspaper's list of "quarantine soirees" is also a good resource.

Westhuizen says the Gilmore hopes to reschedule some artists for performances this fall and next spring. 

Sehvilla Mann joined WMUK’s news team in 2014 as a reporter on the local government and education beats. She covered those topics and more in eight years of reporting for the Station, before becoming news director in 2022.
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