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Phil MUSICIANS

Couples who Play Together:

Meet Lilit Muradyan and Neil Godwin

in my career, the show did not go on. Since then,
I have performed only two very informal outdoor
chamber music programs, one each with woodwind
and brass quintets, as well as Easter and Christmas
Eve services and a micro-wedding gig.

Life is almost unrecognizable for us in
this new world.

One plays viola, one plays French horn, together We rarely crack open our calendars anymore
they navigate a two-musician household and the because there are no gigs. We still have our private
differences between string players and horn players. students, but that has moved entirely online.
Enrollment numbers are down as not everyone
For the first time in my career, the show wants to attend online. And, it was a stiff learning

did not go on. curve for us as we had to adapt to the technology.
It was a challenge trying to navigate, for the first
Lilit - The Phil’s March 8, 2020 concert was my last time, the unemployment system, which is not really
orchestra performance; however, I did play in an designed for mixed-income earners such as most
informal string quartet in the fall and in a Christmas musicians. We have found ways to pass the time,
Eve church service. some more constructive than others, but it remains
a struggle to maintain good mental health when our
Neil - My last live orchestra performance was expressive outlet has been taken away from us.
the night before on March 7 with the Claflin Hill Humans need opportunities to come together and
Symphony, alongside Lilit and several other Plymouth experience the catharsis music can provide. We
Phil colleagues. We played The Grand Canyon yearn for the chance to experience it again with our
Suite and The Pines of Rome, two pieces we had live audiences.
previously played together with the Plymouth Phil.
The following week, I was in rehearsal for an opera A music career is often a patchwork
performance in Boston. The theater had sent out
notice early in the week saying they would remain quilt of performances.
open, with new safety protocols. We played our Lilit - We are fortunate to be able to play together
dress rehearsal and departed hoping we would be in three orchestras: the Plymouth Philharmonic, the
able to perform our opening night performance that Cape Cod Symphony, and the Claflin Hill Symphony.
Friday. Alas, it was not to be, and for the first time Neil also plays with Odyssey Opera, the Boston

PAGE 26 CONNECTIONS