YEAR IN
REVIEW ■
Along with the rest of the world, Rockport Music entered the 2020–21 fiscal year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The performing arts were hit hard as organizations were forced to close their doors. Despite these immense challenges, we ended the fiscal year on a decidedly triumphant note, returning to celebratory live concerts and bringing music-loving audiences back to the hall.
RESILIENCY Even though gathering for live performances was not an option for most of the year, the music never stopped. Rockport Music quickly transitioned to offering state-of-the-art virtual performances, inaugurating the CONCERT VIEW series. These virtual concerts accomplished three major feats—they provided world-class entertainment for an arts-starved population; because they were mostly free and available all over the world on YouTube, they exposed the beauty of our hall to a whole new audience; and finally, the concerts provided work for musicians and artists in a time when employment was very hard to come by. During the fall-spring virtual season, Rockport Music’s jewel—the Shalin Liu Performance Center—was seen by nearly 167,000 homes around the world, including such countries as Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea and Australia. Going all the way through May, the series featured a wide range of performers including stellar classical artists like violinist Timothy Chooi, the Dover Quartet and David Finckel and Wu Han, as well as jazz superstar Kenny Barron, saxophonist Alexa Tarantino, vocalist Alicia Olatuja and clarinet-marimba duo Richard and Mika Stoltzman. This season also brought a Celtic-classical crossover program with harpist Maeve Gilchrist and the Rasa Quartet. 6
With a new at-home, virtual audience, the CONCERT VIEW series allowed Rockport Music to continue our mission of sharing world-class music with people. It gave us an opportunity to grow in new directions and provided a spark of joy amidst the gloom of the pandemic.
