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Streamed Concerts Make The Season Bright

Wreaths and lights adorn Central Ave. in Whitefish, Montana. The ski runs of Whitefish Mountain Resort looms in the background.
Whitefish, Mont.

The potential spread of COVID-19 has put the damper on many holiday events across Montana. But symphonies and chorales statewide are finding new ways to make the season bright.

In other years, Thanksgiving week would mark a countdown to holiday parades across the state that delight children of all ages. But in 2020, processions in Kalispell, Billings and Helena have been canceled over pandemic concerns.

Helena’s Breakfast With Santa, another season staple following turkey day, has been cancelled to protect the children, the families and Santa. And the tree lighting in Kalispell will happen, just not as an in person event.

The Sugar Plum Fairy will not be dancing across a Billings stage on Thanksgiving weekend, ending a long tradition of a joint production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker with the Billings Symphony, local dancers and the San Diego Ballet Company.

Instead, the Alberta Bair Theater will offer The Hip Hop Nutcracker, a contemporary take on Tchaikovsky’s music, recorded live at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Although the production is not local, Jody Grant, ABT’s marketing director, says ticket sales for this streamed performance enable ABT to be a team player within the performance industry.

"Of course we would prefer to do live performance. But right now, in a virtual world, we have found platforms in working with artists who give a percentage of each tickets sold through individual ticket links to venues. So that the venue gets a few dollars for each ticket sold, the agent does and then the producers do who then can pay all the people who are needed to make a production happen," Grant says.

While in person events are not possible during this pandemic, streaming technology is keeping fans and patrons of the arts connected.

Missoula Symphony Orchestra and Chorale and the Billings Symphony and Chorale will live stream their mid December annual Holiday Pops Concert.

The Helena Symphony and Chorale will live stream its annual Christmas at the Cathedral musical performance from the Cathedral of St. Helena, says music director Allan R. Scott. The performance will include a single cello, organ and harp accompanying a small number of Chorale vocalists, all wearing the new singers masks.

Bozeman Symphony Music Director Norman Huynh says the symphony was forced to cancel their very popular holiday concert.

Now they are concentrating on smaller projects, like a partnership with Baroque Music Montana to present a live streamed program of holiday classics from First Presbyterian Church.

Theater groups have cancelled live productions but many are creating new ventures.

While the Missoula Community Theater and the Missoula Children’s Theater have gone on what they call an extended intermission of their theater season, they will stream a radio theater presentation of “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

Six local actors, separated by booths, will perform on a stage with no audience. Details are still being worked out.

Streaming is important, says Helena Symphony Music Director Allan R. Scott, because music is critical to the healing of a community.

Kay Erickson has been working in broadcasting in Billings for more than 20 years. She spent well over a decade as news assignment editor at KTVQ-TV before joining the staff at YPR. She is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, with a degree in broadcast journalism. Shortly after graduation she worked in Great Falls where she was one of the first female sports anchor and reporter in Montana.