Maestro Tom Cohen, center, and members of the Jerusalem Orchestra East & West performing ‘Darbuka la Corona.’ Photo: Screenshot.

The Jerusalem Orchestra East & West did a virtual performance last week to help lift spirits amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Tom Cohen, the orchestra’s artistic director and chief conductor, and the 35 musicians he worked with recorded a new original piece called “Darbuka la Corona” from their homes in Israel and New York. The almost 3-minute clip featured the musicians in various parts of their home and even outside.

“One morning during the first week of this corona frenzy, I suddenly realized that for me, as well as for my orchestra׳s members, this is the first time in 11 years we do not wake up for days of rehearsals, concerts, arrangements, composition and other creative activities that have become our daily routine,” Cohen wrote on the orchestra’s Facebook page. “When I realized that the orchestra’s whatsapp group continued to be vibrant and active — I immediately sat down to do the only thing I know how…I wrote a small piece that aims to make us all happy and show our love and familliarity (sic), that is more powerful than anything else. I wanted it to be both very simple yet complexed, ‘high’ but at eye level – just like us.”

He added, “I hope these sounds and images, of all 35 members of the orchestra, regardless their age, religion, gender or origin — from Majd al krum to Ashkelon, from Jerusalem to New York — celebrating love and longing for friendship and music, will help us all go through this period together.”

The video of their performance on Facebook has been viewed over 1,000 times: