Hi everyone, it's Anne.

In today's episode of To the Best of our Knowledge, we're thinking about music in times of crisis, about how much we need it and how far people will go even even under quarantine during a pandemic,

to find ways to make music together.

People are singing across balconies.

They're harmonizing over Zoom,

live streaming performances from kitchens and bedrooms, and this week, we're getting in on the act.

Stay tuned.

Woo! week, we're getting in is the sound that went viral. This is neighbors in Sa, Italy, at home alone, but singing to each other across the street.

I'm Anne Strange Champs. It's to the best of our knowledge.

You know, music has been one of the few silver linings during this whole horrible experience.

Live stream concerts,

rooftop sing-alongs, people all over the world are finding new ways to make music, together,

even under community lockdowns. It's almost like we need to sing. Singing is something that the body does,

and we don't have a way to be with each other in our bodies right now.

And that's a profound loss, I think.

Lisa Bialava is an award-winning composer and soprano.

She's been inspired by the coronavirus crisis to create something new.

It was the result of a private brainstorm that had to do with how to build community in this particular situation.

I mean, for me personally, I live by myself. I live a block away from the largest hospital complex in Upper Manhattan, and I don't have access to other people. And I know that there are

many others in the same situation. I started getting sort of texts from various friends and

colleagues that I thought, wow, this is really so beautiful. I want to set of texts from various friends and colleagues that I thought,

wow, this is really so beautiful. I want to set this to music. The piece is called broadcast from home.

...