2020-05-18 Coming Back from the COVID Shut Down
The Shutdown
On February 1st, VCGS presented the wonderful classical guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre in a well attended concert at Pyatt Hall. The society was in full swing with a busy concert season plus masterclasses and student recitals on the schedule. Then on March 11th, the COVID pandemic was declared and all public events stopped. The world stood still and everyone stayed home for months.
For VCGS, it meant Alvaro Pierri’s concert scheduled for March 21st had to be cancelled. The financial effect of the pandemic on artists and performers was particularly harsh but soon like everything else, music transitioned to online, livestreamed events and VCGS was there.
The Move to Livestreamed Events
On May 21st, 2020, VCGS held its first Semi-Annual Student Open Stage - Virtual Edition. It was hugely popular with 27 student and 8 adult performers in a recital that started at 4 pm and ended at 8:30 pm.
The first Vancouver Classical Guitar Festival started by Luis Medina was launched as an online event with participants taking workshops and masterclasses from July 28-Aug. 1, 2020. Faculty included Luis, Alec Pearson, Daniel Bolshoy and David Sossa.
In October, VCGS presented two livestreamed concerts featuring Alec Pearson, Luis Medina, Joel Thomson and David Sossa.
And in November, with the 2020-21 concert season cancelled, VCGS put out a call for local guitarists to perform via livestream.
“In lieu of our regular international concert season, VCGS is looking to hire a small number of local guitarists for in-home concerts which will be streamed live. We will host 3 or 4 paid performances. Each concert featuring two guitarists, each guitarist responsible for approximately ~45 -50 minutes of presentation (35-40 minutes of music). Musicians will be expected to wear a mask when not performing and follow all Covid protocols.”
In Person Events Return
By the fall of 2021, in person events were once again allowed with face masks and vaccine passports. On Nov. 6, 2021, VCGS hosted a warmly received ‘Welcome Back” gala concert at Pyatt Hall with lineup of Vancouver’s best guitarists including David Sossa, Luis Medina, the Capilano Guitar Trio, Anna Pietrzak and the Vancouver Guitar Orchestra. And on Dec. 18, VCGS presented a concert with the very talented Richmond brothers guitarist Alan and pianist Brayden Liu. Not only had the concert season had returned., VCGS came out of the pandemic with a thriving classical guitar community, a summer festival and an adult guitar ensemble.