Pop-up performances in Manhattan storefronts bring back sound of live music once again

Thursday, January 28, 2021
Pop-up performances in NYC storefronts bring back sound of live music
Eyewitness News was there for a live musical performance by the JACK Quartet at a storefront on West 62nd Street on Wednesday night thanks to the Kaufman Music Center.

UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Musical Storefronts are popping up across Manhattan to bring a taste of live music back into the community.

Eyewitness News was there for a live musical performance by the JACK Quartet at a storefront on West 62nd Street on Wednesday night.

Even in the bitter January chill, on a frozen street corner, the music calls.

It seems like it's been a lifetime since we've been able to be there as music is performed, so the Kaufman Music Center has started providing it again -- with precautions in place.

Everyone is masked and the performers were behind glass. But the feeling is still there.

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"It was awesome, it's my first time seeing a live performance in a really long time, so it was fun," passerby Irene Han said.

John Richards plays viola.

"Performing is what we do, and the experience we have working with audiences, feeling their feedback, is what fuels us to keep performing," he said. "Now we're operating in this vacuum, where the only time people hear us is on the internet."

The Kaufman Music Center is hosting several performances every day of different groups and different types of music at the storefront.

To avoid big crowds during the pandemic, they don't post their schedule,

Some passersby cast a curious eye and kept walking, but others stopped to enjoy the warm embrace on a frigid winter day.

"We're still doing it, obviously we have to be a little more creative and work with our community even more," said Kate Sheerhan with Kaufman Music Center. "But we're here, we're still doing it, we can't wait to open our doors to even more people when it's safe."

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