Houston Ballet Orchestra Returns to Wortham For the First Time Since March 2020

Houston Ballet Orchestra returned this month to Wortham Theater for its first performance since shutting down in March, Houston Chronicle reports.

"Because they're all string players, we didn't have to deal with expanded wind instruments projecting air," said Ermanno Florio, music director and principal conductor for Houston Ballet. "Everyone social distanced onstage 6-feet apart with one musician per stand. Normally they share."

The performance was recorded across three days, from January 14 to 16. Members of the orchestra also took two COVID-19 tests, and completed health forms through an app set up by the Houston Ballet.

"Everyone proceeded directly to their chairs to unpack. I used a microphone," Florio adds. "It was a different way of making music, but we're trying to be as creative as possible given the circumstances."

"It's a baby step toward being back in the theater," he said. "What we do is bring people together. When the music starts there's a sense of unity. I still get shivers thinking about it - it's gratifying and good for the soul."

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