NC Folk Festival finishes up recording performances for September virtual concert series schedule

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    GREENSBORO, N.C (WGHP) — The coronavirus pandemic has pushed businesses and industries into different and safe ways to showcase their work.

The NC Folk Festival will showcase North Carolina-based performer’s talents digitally this year through concert-streaming platforms to avoid the potential spread of COVID-19.

Mandolin Orange, a Chapel-Hill American Folk music duo, performed an hour-long set inside of the First National Bank stadium for the festival. This performance was the final taping for the 10 performances the NCI NC Folk Festival has taped for the Sept. 11-13 event.

“We have a purpose again. Feels like we’re able to do our job and connect with people and share what we love doing,” said Emily Frantz, a member of the Mandolin Orange Band.

Tapping inside of the First National Bank was one of the first times since March the group played in a venue. President & CEO of the NC Folk Festival Amy Grossman originally hoped they could do the traditional multi-stage set-up but after COVID-19 they readjusted those plans to highlight 10 performers all through the lens of a camera and live stream.

The festival made the decision to go virtual back in July.

“Retaining that live music experience was important to us, and we’re also going to take the 10 performances that we’ve recorded and edit them into three two-hour programs,” said Grossman.

The company putting the visuals together is 7 Cinematics, a Greensboro-based live music production company.

“Our job is to create a powerful cinematic presentation, so it’s a combination of band, artists, performance,” said Adrian West, the company’s vice president.

The festival will be streamed on several distribution channels like GTN, YouTube, Nugs.net, and Facebook live.

For now, many musicians are taking virtual opportunities during this pandemic.

“Time will tell. Live streams are awesome and they’re a great way to connect right now but they’re not the same environment so I think there will still be a place for that afterword but time will tell,” said Frantz.

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