Inna Faliks knows what it means to bring music to audiences in times of difficulty.
In order to keep the performances going, the critically-acclaimed pianist started her own live-stream concert series: Corona Friday’s with Inna Faliks. Within just a few days, Faliks made the transition from the concert hall to her living room, complete with a Yamaha grand piano (accessorized with a toilet paper roll in theme for the coronavirus toilet paper panic), an ornate red rug, and a whimsical bookshelf in the corner.
“This feeling of nervous excitement, a desire to share, of something special about to take place that one has before a concert,” Faliks said over the phone. “That feeling is very important to keep alive.”
Every week, Faliks performs a short 30-minute program through Facebook and Instagram Live featuring works, old and new, from her repertoire, and several poems sprinkled throughout.
In addition to turning her practice space into somewhat of a performance venue every Friday, Faliks also dresses up. Her latest concert attire ranged from formal blouses and elegant heels to a bright yellow bathrobe and slippers, the latter in the spirit of her special 9:30 a.m. pajama edition for kids.
“Any music at a time like this– it’s a light,” Faliks said. “It’s something that makes one forget about being plugged into the news, about being in this constant whirlwind of panic.”
The upside of a live-stream performance is that it’s easy. It’s remote. Virtual concerts provide the possibility for anyone from all over the world to tune in and listen to music they usually don’t have the chance to, she said.
“It’s for everyone,” Faliks said. “All you have to do is press a button.”
The downside is not being able to see the audience member’s faces. Virtual hearts and comments simply don’t have the same impact as clapping. The chemistry between a performer and listener is irreplaceable, Faliks said, and during a live-stream concert, that connection becomes imaginary. The best way to deal with it is to cultivate the mindset of sharing and communicating music, she said.
Whether the venue is a concert hall or her living room, Faliks’ mentality is the same: if she can impact at least one member in the audience, she has done her job as a musician.
“You don’t know who is watching but whoever it is, they might be really moved,” Faliks said. “The possibility of that is lovely.”
In today’s digital age where likes and followers seem to matter, Faliks said people think too much about how others perceive them. When performing, especially through live-stream, she believes it’s important to forget that and put oneself in a mental place of joy in front of an audience that feels supportive and inspiring. For Faliks, that often means imagining her students’ faces in the audience.
“I love all audiences, but it is very special when I play for my students,” she said.
Faliks maintains engagement with her audience by speaking during the live-streams. Sometimes she shares her own experience in quarantine. Sometimes she lectures about interesting musical elements to listen to, such as the second movement theme from Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in Corigliano’s Fantasia on an Ostinato. She also pairs the pieces with short poems. In her first installment, she read a poem called “This” by Fernando Pessoa, relating to her own view on the current situation– “What is this? Where are we? What’s going on here?”
A performer at heart, Faliks said the same feeling of freedom and joy that comes from playing for a live audience is not easy to replicate at home. She tries to cultivate a similar sense of spontaneity by taking risks and playing pieces she hasn’t performed in ages. Though nothing will ever be able to replace live performance, Faliks said the possibilities of live-stream concerts still make it exciting and worth-trying.
“This is not a replacement for it,” Faliks emphasized. “This is just something else.”
When news of concert cancellations swept the nation in mid-March, Faliks said she was devastated. Her last performance was cancelled the day of, along with every other project, premiere, and recording she was looking forward to in the coming months.
Faliks’ professorship at UCLA provides her with a cushion of practical support, but many musicians who solely depend on performance for a living have suddenly had their income on hold for an indeterminable amount of time. A lot of them depend on donations and artist relief funds for financial support, she said.
“It’s unfathomable,” Faliks said. “Everyone is trying, everyone is hopeful, but it’s really hard.”
Although many musicians lost their concert tours and performances, Faliks said more and more people are beginning to understand how fragile and difficult a performer’s profession is. She said she hopes this can be a wake-up call for society that what musicians do is incredibly important.
“We’ve always been struggling, and we always will,” Faliks said. “It just kind of sucks that it takes the coronavirus pandemic for people to realize.”
The job of a performing musician is to open the world of music to an audience and in this given “war-like situation” of illness, death, and difficulty, Faliks said she feels a greater sense of acuteness and immediacy to do so.
“Musicians find a way to connect to the given unprecedented moment,” Faliks said. “We all feel that what we are doing is needed, important, wanted in this dramatic and desperate time.”
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