On Sunday, July 5th, 2020 the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus hosted a Musikabend celebration that brought together over 100 people from across the USA as well as South America. The Zoom event began with the reading of Langston Hughes' poem, Let America Be America Again, and ended with a screen share of the score of America, the Beautiful for a rousing sing-along, with many surprises in between. 

Turning the restrictions of the pandemic into a advantage, there were a number of zoom ensembles, including an alto guitar duet of John Dowland's Flow My Tears between Canada and the US, a one-person duet of Bach's Wir eilen mit Schwachen which included a virtual tour of Leipzig, bringing the Leipzig Bach Festival right into people's living rooms, and outdoor presentations of Quia respexit from Bach's Magnificat and Mozart's Queen of the Night aria.

People were happy to greet each other at the end drawing out the close of the event. The Schiller Institute NYC Chorus has a busy schedule of rehearsals, classes and workshops, to which all were invited. The chorus is presently working on both the Mass in C and the Missa Solemnis of Beethoven, and a number of Spirituals and other music projects, and a new class/ lecture series along with a new weekly music skills workshop were announced.