Of course, we are not the only ones in the arts industry getting creative during these difficult times. With that in mind, we have compiled a list of some of the best for you to check it out during your time in lockdown.
Music
royal opera house
The Royal Opera House are streaming a performance every Friday evening as part of their #OurHouseToYourHouse series. The latest being Mozart’s ‘Così fan tutte’ watch it here:
London Symphony orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra have launched their #AlwaysPlaying series, live streaming a concert from their archive every Sunday and Thursday from their Youtube channel. The next performance they are streaming is:
Thursday 9 April 2020, 7.30pm BST
Stravinsky ballet music
Stravinsky The Firebird (original ballet)
Stravinsky Petrushka (1947 version)
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
Thursday 16 April 2020, 7.30pm BST
Mahler 2
Mahler Symphony No 2
Semyon Bychkov conductor
Christiane Karg soprano
Anna Larsson contralto
London Symphony Chorus
Simon Halsey chorus director
London Symphony Orchestra
Sunday 19 April 2020, 7pm BST
Bernstein Prelude, Fugue and Riffs
Bartók Hungarian Peasant Songs
Szymanowski Harnasie
Stravinsky Ebony Concerto
Golijov Nazareno
Bernstein Prelude, Fugue and Riffs
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Katia and Marielle Labèque pianos
London Symphony Orchestra
Thursday 23 April 2020, 7.30pm BST
The Rose Lake
Tippett The Rose Lake
Mahler comp. Cooke Symphony No 10
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
Sunday 26 April 2020, 7pm BST
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
Webern Six Pieces for Orchestra
Berg Fragments of Woyzeck
Ligeti Mysteries of the Macabre
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Barbara Hannigan soprano
London Symphony Orchestra
Thursday 30 April 2020, 7.30pm BST
Adams and Berlioz
Adams Harmonielehre
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
You can find out more and all the performances LSO plan to stream at the link below.
Together At Home
Global Citizen is a “movement of engaged citizens who are using their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030”. Together At Home is Global Citizen’s virtual concert series in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Streaming live from the company’s YouTube channel, the series has already hosted Chris Martin of Coldplay, Common, John Legend and more.
But the big one is coming on Saturday 18th April, at 5 pm (PT). Curated in collaboration with Lady Gaga, the global special will feature appearances and musical performances from Alanis Morissette, Andrea Bocelli, Billie Eilish, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Burna Boy, Chris Martin, David Beckham, Eddie Vedder, Elton John, FINNEAS, Idris and Sabrina Elba, J Balvin, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kerry Washington, Lang Lang, Lizzo, Maluma, Paul McCartney, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan, and Stevie Wonder. Not bad eh?
It’s set to be shown live on TV channels around the world including ABC, NBC and the BBC, as well as on Amazon Prime Video, Facebook, YouTube and many more digital channels. It will be hard to miss, basically. $35 million has already been raised and the hope is the concert will raise more. You can find out more on the Global Citizen website.
Together At Home from Global Citizen on YouTube
Royal Albert Home
The Royal Albert Hall – yes, the Royal Albert Hall – is hosting a series of Royal Albert Home performances over the coming days and weeks, which will see “artists sharing their work from their homes to yours”. The free streaming programme already includes Rufus Wainwright, Peter Gregson, Brassed Off and many more, with the promise of more to be announced. You can also donate to the Hall to show your support.
View the Royal Albert Home streaming programme
Radiohead
Yes, Radiohead. The band will be posting weekly classic concert videos to their YouTube channel, starting on Thursday 9th April at 10pm BST (5pm ET) with the broadcast of Live from a Tent in Dublin, a gig from 7th October, 2000.
View the concerts via the Radiohead channel on YouTube
Defected Records
One of the biggest record labels in dance music is hosting virtual festivals of live DJ streams – and dancers! – to keep us entertained. Expect big-name DJs and the chance to watch back at your leisure on Facebook. We’ve had rounds 1 and 2, and Virtual Festival 3.0 is scheduled for Friday 10th April, starting at 1pm (BST).
Watch Defected Virtual Festival 3.0 on Facebook
Joe Stilgoe
The famed music maker is going live every day from his very own shed. Each day has a different theme. Mondays it’s Musicals, Wednesday is mash-ups and Friday is children’s requests. Watch it here:
The Met Opera
The Met are providing dynamic, fresh content every night, diving into their back-catalogue of incredible productions to provide a new show on their website every day. Find out more here:
DANCE
MK ULTRA
Rosie Kay Dance Company – The same company as Five Soldiers has released another show – filmed at the Southbank Centre. Watch it here:
MOTIONHOUSE
Motionhouse dance company were founded in 1988 by Louise Richards and Kevin Finnan MBE. They create world class dance-circus productions that tour internationally. They have a trilogy of work that can be streamed for FREE via their YouTube channel! Click here for further information.
Shows
Scattered (our relationship with water): Friday 27th March at 7pm *Still available to watch*
Broken (our relationship with Earth): Friday 3rd April at 7pm
Charge (electricity in the human body): Friday 10th April at 7pm
This will be the first time that the productions have been shared online- we hope you enjoy them!
Sadler’s wells
Sadler’s Wells have launched their Digital Stage. They are showing full-length dance performances online for FREE.
Shows
More shows will be added over the coming weeks!
For further information and to see what else they are offering click on the button below.
THEATRE
NATIONAL THEATRE
National Theatre at Home has been launched and has already been enjoyed by over 1 million viewers. The premier of One Man, Two Guvnors on Thursday 2nd April on their YouTube channel, was enjoyed by many! They will continue to stream theatre each Thursday and have a full listing of all shows up to the end of April. Click here for further information.
Shows
One Man, Two Guvnors: Thursday 4th April at 7pm *Available anytime until 9th April*
Jane Eyre: Premiers Thursday 9th April at 7pm
Treasure Island: Premiers Thursday 16th April at 7pm
Twelfth Night: Premiers Thursday 23rd April at 7pm
The Show Must Go On
Andrew Lloyd Webber will be streaming his musicals for free online in this new series called The Show Must Go On. Perfect for theatre and musicals theatre fans during the lockdown.
Shows
Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘By Jeeves’ will be streamed for free on Friday. Starring Martin Jarvis and John Scherer, the piece is based on P G Woodhouse’s classic characters. Find out more here:
The Encounter
The hit Complicité show starring Simon McBurney is being streamed for free online in May. Find out more here:
Manchester International Festival
The festival is putting full shows, musical performances, talks, Q&As and more online for free. Watch it here:
Deafinitely Theatre
The award-winning company plans to release three shows over the next three months. Presented in both British Sign Language and Spoken English, the productions will be available here:
Electrolyte
The award-winning gig theatre piece by Wildcard Theatre is being streamed for a week from 18 May. Find out more here:
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Matt Henry appears in this caper about two warring lovers battling to woo the same woman. Find it here:
The International Online Theatre Festival
Running from 15th April to the 15th May, the online festival provides some of the most cutting-edge contemporary theatre from venues all over the world.
Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti
Opera North is streaming its production of the hit Bernstein opera for a full month on its YouTube channel. Find out more here:
Stratford Festival
The award-winning theatre is putting its Shakespeare productions online for free. “Coriolanus” is available here:
Shakespeare’s Globe’s Richard II
Richard II – Swinging The Lens from Swinging The Lens on Vimeo
Adjoa Andoh and Lynette Linton’s stellar production of Shakespeare’s history play marked the first all-women of colour Shakespeare production on a UK stage.
Southwark Stayhouse
The hit-making south London theatre has released three archived productions on its site, including the rock musical “Wasted”. Find out more here:
Told by an Idiot
Will be streaming a new show weekly. My Perfect Mind is currently available to watch which ran twice at the young vic and has toured the UK.
The Wooster Group
Are currently streaming their reimagined production of Hamlet, available until 7th April.
Cheek by Jowl
They have brought back their production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Recorded live at the Barbican in 2017. It is available for a month.
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre are putting out three shows over three consecutive weeks Mike Bartlett’s Wild, Beth Steel’s Wonderland and Brenton’s Drawing the Line. Currently on is Wild by Mike Bartlett and it is available until Sunday 5th April. It is available from their website or through the Guardian website.
To access all the fantastic theatre above and more follow the link:
AdVision TV
Only the Brave, the hit musical starring Caroline Sheen and David Thaxton, is available for free online. The show tells the story of a group of soldiers in the run-up to the D-Day landings. Available here:
BBC
The company will broadcast six of the RSC’s recent productions on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer
Shows
The following shows will be streamed from 20th April
Macbeth with Christopher Eccleston and Niamh Cusack
Othello with Hugh Quarshie in the title role and Lucian Msamati as Iago
Romeo and Juliet with Bally Gill as Romeo and Karen Fishwick as Juliet
The Merchant of Venice with Makram J Khoury as Shylock
Much Ado About Nothing with Edward Bennett as Benedick and Michelle Terry as Beatrice
Hamlet with Paapa Essiedu in the title role
Curve Leicester and Theatre Royal Bath
Curve Leicester and Theatre Royal Bath’s 2017 production of Joe Orton’s play ‘What the Butler Saw’ will be streamed from 19th April. The cast features Rufus Hound, Dakota Blue Richards, Catherine Russell, Jack Holden, Jasper Britton and Ravi Aujla. For more information-https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/stage-shows-musicals-opera-free-stream-online_51198.html
BBC
Emma Rice’s hit show ‘Wise Children’ will be available on BBC iPlayer for three months from Easter weekend.
BBC Arts and Battersea Arts Centre
BBC Arts and Battersea Arts Centre have partnered to present The Way Out, a single-take film featuring Omid Djalili. Find out more here- https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/battersea-arts-centre-bbc-arts_51380.html
Chichester Festival Theatre
The venue will begin streaming archived shows, including the award-winning ‘Flowers for Mrs Harris’ which is available until 8th May. Find it here- https://www.cft.org.uk/flowers-for-mrs-harris-broadcast
Manual Cinema
Manual Cinema are experts in transforming screens, scenes and spaces into cinematic feasts, the award-winning company are streaming two shows online here- http://manualcinema.com/watch
Mercury Theatre
Mercury Theatre are streaming their production of ‘Cinderella’ for free to give audiences a piece of panto fun. You can watch it here- https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/cinderella-online/
ART
tHE aRTS SOCIETY
The Arts Society, the UK’s leading arts education charity with 90,000 members, has announced a series of free online lectures, film screenings and live Q&As by authors that will run over the coming months.The Arts Society have launched a free arts lockdown programme.
You can find the first of these via the link below.
The Newbury branch of the Arts Society host their lectures throughout the year at Arlington Arts.
Cirque du Soleil
Though live circus might be unavailable, the iconic troupe Cirque du Soleil is putting hour-long free shows on its YouTube channel. Watch the latest one here: