It may not be the final curtain, but the coronavirus pandemic and various safety precautions have had a huge impact on the performing arts. Audiences have been encouraged to stay at home and not gather indoors. Venues have closed. Performances have been canceled or postponed.

However, artists know more than anyone that the show must go on. They have found alternative ways to connect with their audiences with various online events.

Since early February 2020, the Xi'an Symphony Orchestra has been finding creative ways to engage with its audience. Within two months the orchestra chorus presented about 80 shows via livestream and the symphony orchestra performed 11 online shows. The shows have attracted more than 23 million online viewers in total.

To their surprise, their online programs not only stabilized their relationship with their audience but also helped build a new fan base.

The symphony orchestra, which was founded in 2012 in Shaanxi province, is home to musicians from around the country, most of whom are younger than 30.

"We had to figure out ways to keep in touch with our fans since many of our live performances were canceled due to the pandemic, which was very disappointing," says Cao Jiwen, branding director of the Xi'an orchestra."For us, it was a new experience to launch online the programs since our musicians usually perform in front of a live audience. With the first online concert, we saw many fans, who may have never listened to classical music before, become interested in the genre. It's an unexpected reward. We then tried to come up with more ideas to get classical music closer to more people."

The fact that online concerts are a solution for symphony orchestras to connect with their fans also inspired musicians to design shows specifically for online audiences.

In April and May 2020, the orchestra launched a series of online concerts by working with major video sites Youku and Bilibili, which are popular among younger users. The online concert series, When Museum Meets XSO, was staged at museums in Shaanxi province, such as the Shaanxi History Museum, the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum, and the Xi'an Museum.

A team from the orchestra shot videos of the museums and items on display, which were broadcast during the concerts. Millions of viewers watched the When Museum Meets XSO online concert series.

As well as online indoor concerts, the Xi'an Symphony Orchestra also put on outdoor performances at iconic sites in the province. For example, a concert, titled XSO Meets Huashan Mountain Summit Clouds Rhapsody, took place in July 2020, which saw more than 200 musicians from the orchestra, under the baton of conductor Tang Muhai, perform on Huashan Mountain in Shaanxi province, one of China's five most famous mountains, known for its picturesque, steep and perilous peaks.

Over 50 million people watched the virtual concert.

"If there is one good thing that has come of this pandemic, it's that people are desperately longing to hear music performed live again. It is as though many only now fully appreciate just how much of a gift music is," says conductor Li Biao, who, on Feb 5,2020, led the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in performing English composer Edward Elgar's piece, Salut d'Amour. The orchestra released a series of online concerts before it gave its first public performance in front of a live audience on July 31,2020, at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

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