Despite the Covid-19 pandemic preventing in-person gatherings and concerts, the music department's “Brown Bag” concert series will go on as scheduled online Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. on the department’s Facebook page.
Eric Huebner, UB music department’s director of undergraduate studies, will host the concert, which will run approximately an hour in length. As per the conventions of the concert series, the performers and pieces will not be announced until the concert is in progress.
“We decided to try this because we’ve noticed other people doing online performances to decent success,” Concert Manager Philip Rehard said. “The sound quality doesn’t tend to be great, but we thought our audience would still enjoy the opportunity to see what the students and faculty are up to during this change to distance learning.”
Inside of Slee Hall, where the Brown Bag concerts typically take place.
The “Brown Bag” concert series traditionally takes place twice a semester and is a chance for faculty and students to showcase what they’re working on. Performers and pieces are usually decided a couple weeks before the show and the shows are free to the public.
The series gets its namesake from the format; the audience sits on Slee Hall’s stage and is able to bring a lunch. People who attend these “Brown Bag” shows also receive free passes to more conventional performances at Slee Hall.
In an email announcing the concert, Rehard wrote “Please keep in mind that this is a new venture for us, so we’re not totally sure that all of the kinks have been identified yet. We are hopeful, though, that after some practice attempts, this will work. So, hope to see many of you there tomorrow.”
Alex Whetham is the senior arts editor at The Spectrum and can be reached at alex.whetham@ubspectrum.com or on Twitter @alexo774
Alex Whetham is an asst. arts editor for The Spectrum.
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
