Kingston Symphony comes together virtually to close out season

Classical musicians everywhere have been mourning the early closures of their seasons due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Kingston Symphony included.

When the orchestra was forced to close their 2019-2020 season early before they could perform their final concert featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No.8 and No. 9, the Symphony Music Director, Evan Mitchell wanted to raise the spirits of his fellow musicians as well as inspire music lovers all over.

To do this, he corralled 40 members of the orchestra to perform the final of Eroica from Beethoven’s Symphony No.3, recorded by their smart phones. Each member filmed themselves playing their part and it resulted in a 12-minute video.

Compiling the video proved to be the most difficult part of the process and resulted in over 50 hours of editing. However, according to Mitchell the process was a “labour of love – love of music, the musicians who play it, and the audience who will hear it and hopefully be uplifted by it all.”

Mitchell chose the finale of Symphony No. 3 for its themes of perseverance and heroism.

“We wanted to go with something larger in scope than had been before and with the loss of our Beethoven festival season finale due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mitchell. “The Eroica is special as it represents a hero’s life which leads into the finale’s brilliant statement of triumph and overcoming adversity.”

“Maybe a little too close to home at this time but it certainly felt rewarding to undertake this particular music project.”

Watch the whole performance below!