How long has it been since you performed in front of a live audience? Many months for most, but then there’s the Atlantic Bubble! Before it burst recently, GGS pianist LaLa Lee (BMus ’21) and cellist David Liam Roberts (BMus ’22) were in Halifax performing on November 21 for Cecilia Concerts, a longstanding local classical recital series.
Safety protocols in the 200-seat Lilian Piercy Concert Hall at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts turned their planned evening concert into two in one night. The 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. sessions each treated 50 listeners, spaced safely around the hall and well away from the stage, to music by Boccherini, Schumann, Bloch, Hatzis and Chopin.
“It just so happened that LaLa and I were going to be performing in Lunenberg around the same time in October as part of Lunenberg Academy of Music Performance’s Beethoven 250 festival,” says David Liam. “As soon as we realized we were both in the Atlantic Bubble at the same time, we knew we had to find an opportunity to collaborate.”
Halifax is home for LaLa. “We had often discussed playing together at school, so it was somewhat ironic that during the pandemic, we finally found the opportunity to collaborate,” she remembers. “I knew that Cecilia Concerts had cancelled their season and as restrictions in the Atlantic Bubble eased, I pitched them the idea of programming us as a cello/piano duo. We had already been in the bubble for several weeks and they immediately invited us for two concerts. We couldn't have been more fortunate – it turned out that our concerts that Saturday night were the last live performances as Nova Scotia re-entered lockdown.”
The mandatory 14-day quarantine – LaLa in Halifax and David Liam in a seaside cottage outside of Lunenberg – became useful study and practice time before their performances in front of grateful listeners.
“Despite the small audiences, the energy in the hall was palpable,” says David Liam. “It seemed like everyone there was aware of how special it was to be experiencing a live performance in a time like this. I have never felt so much purpose while performing as I did that evening.”