UK youth orchestra plays ‘Ode to Joy’ alone but together

A nationwide lockdown isn’t stopping Britain’s National Youth Orchestra from making music — alone but together.

With the country in its fourth week of isolation to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, the collection of teenage musicians from across the U.K. can’t meet in person the way they usually do during school holidays.

Instead, the orchestra’s 164 musicians will open their windows or stand on their doorsteps and play 40 seconds of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” at 5 p.m. (1600GMT) on Friday. The performances will be posted online using the hashtag #NYOdetoJoy.

Members of the public are invited to join in with instruments or voices, and are being encouraged to post footage of their performances using the same hashtag.

The performance is being dedicated to health care staff, other essential workers and anyone who feels isolated in their home.

Violinist Kynan Walker, the 18-year-old orchestra leader, said “we want it to be a nationwide gesture of gratitude.”

“Beethoven wanted this music to be a completely new innovation for classical music, but also a message to society in terms of uniting, and this overwhelming sense of joy,” he said. “So it’s been great for us to prepare something that seems so relevant to today -- especially in the circumstances that we’re in right now.”