When we began this experiment in social distance music making, we were simply trying to give quarantined musicians a way to connect while isolated. My dear friend, Danny Rosenberg, came up with the brilliant idea of building a technological platform that would allow us to connect with colleagues, defying physics and distance to provide us with a way of making live music together.

Thus, on March 14th, we welcomed Danny’s brainchild into the world and named him “Kevin,” an evolution of the program’s official name, Collabro, that was a reference to the voice of the Blazers’ Kevin Calabro which ended up being just plain “Kevin.”

Like most actual children, Kevin tantalizes us with possibilities even as he vexes us with the occasional tantrum. We’ve really grown together as a family through this experience, gaining a lot of respect for the laws of physics and the vagaries of Facebook and YouTube, whilst enjoying the moments when we can turn Kevin off for some “us” time.

Danny really is writing the book with Kevin, breaking new ground with this tremendous gift to the musicians. While nothing will ever replace the joy of playing together in the same room, this comes as close as possible to allowing us to be able to do so.

The pandemic has given us all a hard shove down paths that we’d already started walking. It is now imperative for performing arts organizations to develop business models for online performances and other creative ways of presenting musical art that can be safely experienced by our audiences. I’ve always tried to see the creative opportunities that these kinds of moments present, and Kevin is just the first example of how we will creatively respond to this moment.

Looking ahead, we’re very excited about where this technology will take us as it presents exciting possibilities for national and international collaborations. The world is your oyster, Kevin. Now go make your parents proud!

Ron Blessinger
Executive Director, 45^th Parallel Universe