Unmasking the Arts with Helga Davis
A Conversation Series on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
The multidisciplinary artist and incomparable WNYC host Helga Davis converses with arts industry leaders who have confronted and adapted to the challenges posed by COVID-19, focusing on the resiliency and hope inherent within the performing arts, and the impact this time will have on the role of the arts in our society in future. Participants include clarinetist Anthony McGill, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, pianist Wu Han, opera director Yuval Sharon, New York Times arts critic Jason Farago, former Washington Post music critic Anne Midgette, New York Review of Books editor Maya Chung, and musician Rhiannon Giddens.
Videos
Musician Rhiannon Giddens in Conversation with Helga Davis
"In this time and in this space of such upheaval and strife and economic and environmental devastation, how can I contribute to the conversation that is positive and that is looking forward to the kind of beautiful things of which we are capable..."
—Rhiannon Giddens
Opera Director Yuval Sharon in Conversation with Helga Davis
"What we really need to cultivate in our lives more than anything is a sense of solidarity with each other...and I really do think that's where the arts are going to be crucial when we come back: trying to rebuild that sense of solidarity."
—Yuval Sharon
Critics Jason Farago, Maya Chung, and Anne Midgette in Conversation with Helga Davis
"Art, music, drama—here is a point worth recalling in a pandemic—are instruments of psychic and social health."
—Critic Jason Farago
Pianist Wu Han in Conversation with Helga Davis
"As artists, even in good times we should always have a certain sense of emergency because our job is to push limits..."
—Pianist Wu Han
Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja in Conversation with Helga Davis
"This is a moment to understand that we are a part of nature...a continuation of this state of spirit is killing all of us.."
—Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Clarinetist Anthony McGill in Conversation with Helga Davis
Clarinetist Anthony McGill spearheaded the #TakeTwoKnees movement in response to the death of George Floyd, challenging fellow musicians and Americans to draw attention to the problem of racism in their own personal ways and opening the door for music to serve as a powerful voice within the fight for social justice.
