How Will Orchestras Resume Their Concerts?

I occasionally attend symphony concerts, usually when I can get a steeply discounted ticket as the regular prices are out of my comfort range. In two years, I've been to four. But right now, they're on hold. 

It's unclear how orchestras will resume their schedule as long as the pandemic continues. As this article from Wired points out, there are issues that affect both the health of the musicians and the economic health of the orchestras. (How will they survive if the audience is reduced by two-thirds due to social distancing rules?) That remains to be seen.  

Some orchestras, like the Berlin Philharmonic, have streamed concerts, but the experience is less than ideal for both the musicians and the audience. 

Last month, members of the Berlin Philharmonic returned home to their concert hall after weeks of isolation. They sat onstage in a loose constellation, dispersed according to local virus regulations. Only 15 players could be onstage at a time. The strings sat two meters apart. The woodwinds and brass sat five meters apart—on account of them blowing great quantities of air during a global respiratory virus pandemic, without the benefit of masks. They played music by Ligeti, Pärt, and Barber. And at the end of the performance, they bowed, smiling vaguely into an empty, silent hall. A classical music critic for The New York Times, watching the performance live from his apartment, described it as “awkward” but “also inspiring.”

However, that may be the only way out for some orchestras, espeically if they can charge for viewing the stream.