New York Philharmonic musicians perform outdoors amid pandemic
CGTN
01:21

Members of the New York Philharmonic orchestra perform socially distanced outdoor concerts at surprise locations in the city amid the coronavirus pandemic.

They rode a truck and visited every neighborhood and community they could find, providing 15- to 20-minute pull-up concerts.

"We are trying to connect through the music and take away everything that sometimes prevents people from getting into the concert hall," countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo said, "It is not just about bringing people into our house, it's about getting our house out into the world and sharing what music can do."

"This is very cool. It's nice to feel the energy from the people, you know. It's like making music is not only a musician playing, it's like a round, round trip. We play, we share the energy, and we can feel the energy back from the audience. It's a really great experience," said violist Cong Wu.

The Philharmonic's home is David Geffen Hall of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. All the city's major classical music institutions, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall, will be shut down until the end of 2020.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., the worst-hit nation across the world, rose to 6.24 million on Sunday, with the national death toll surpassing 188,000, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

(With input from AFP)