Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency:  Newsflash

AsiaWire/@shanghaisymphony

This is the moment four masked musicians of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra perform a live-streamed concert without a live audience to “bring some peace during this difficult time for our world”.

The footage was shared on social media by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (SSO) alongside the message: “We strongly believe that music has no borders.

“We hope that we can continue to bring you some peace during this difficult time for our world. Here is a clip of our musicians performing Joe Hisaishi’s ‘Princess Mononoke’.”

According to local media, the four musicians faced an empty auditorium while wearing face masks and performed a concert of classics called ‘A Greeting of Love’.

The show included the String Quartets of Joseph Haydn and several polkas composed by Johann Strauss among many others.

The concert was live-streamed on several social networks during a period of self-isolation in many countries around the world to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Viewers took part in interactive discussions with the musicians who occasionally stopped between compositions to answer their questions.

Concertmaster Li Pei said: “Wearing masks was uncomfortable, and the players needed to get used to it and overcome difficulties when adjusting their breath.”

SSO director Zhou Ping said there will be three similar performances taking place before the end of April.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.