Online lessons and concerts are planned by one music school in Surrey as the COVID-19 pandemic creates a massive sour note in the local music industry.
Natalia Pardalis, who runs Pardalis Studio for Music & the Performing Arts at her home on 106A Avenue, told clients about the move to online lessons in a five-minute video posted to Youtube and in a message on pardalisstudio.com.
The studio has approximately 50 students, she told the Now-Leader in an email.
“The parents and students have been extremely supportive, we are so thankful for all their support,” Pardalis said.
“We had a few parents decided to postpone lessons but we are creating online tutorials for them. Dance classes are naturally postponed but again our teachers are hard at work creating videos.”
Pardalis said the studio is also planning an online festival for the greater community, “as the music festivals have been cancelled or postponed and we don’t want all kids’ hard work go to waste. With Muziwest Concerts, We are currently developing some online training for teachers, too.”
Also planned is an international music online concert series “so artists can bring hope,” she said.
“We are seeing this as an opportunity to be more creative and think out of the box. Music is needed more than ever.”
Pardalis said she’s been teaching online lessons for about a decade.
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Meantime, the City of Surrey will host a COVID-19 webinar series event on Wednesday, March 25, starting at 9 a.m., to offer “tools and resources to effectively work from home and boost productivity.”
The webinar, first in a series, is geared toward helping local businesses through the COVID-19 crisis.
“Our webinar experts will be Rocky Ozaki, Founder of NoW of Work Inc. and the NoW Academy; Steve Kish, Manager of Desktop, Mobility, & Telecom at the City of Surrey; and Carson Kwok, Account Executive from Cossette Vancouver,” says a memo posted to surrey.ca.
CLICK HERE to register for the webinar.
• RELATED STORY: COVID-19: Cancelled, postponed Surrey events due to coronavirus outbreak.
Elsewhere, Newton BIA is publishing business support updates online. CLICK HERE to read more.