Dutch Cellist Gives Private Performance at Venue Shuttered by Pandemic

A former village church in Grootschermer normally makes for a charming music venue, but in these pandemic times, it’s closed. But that hasn’t stopped local cellist Pieter Wispelwey giving a solo lockdown performance, for an audience of one.

Video recorded by Wispelwey’s wife, and fellow musician, Alexandra Bellamy, shows him playing the gigue from Bach’s Partita No 2, a piece normally performed by a violinist. The couple live in a former vicarage adjacent the church.

“It’s taken a lockdown to inspire me to lock into this violin Partita Gigue. And what an icon of a Gigue it is! Still a bit of polishing left to do but I thought I’d share it now,” Wispelwey wrote on Facebook.

As of April 17, 30,449 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in the Netherlands, with 3,459 deaths. Credit: Alexandra Bellamy via Storyful