CANBERRA Symphony Orchestra’s promised Saint-Saëns’ “Organ Symphony” without an audience, recorded early in the week with CSO musicians and organist Joseph Nolan under the baton of Nick Milton, will go live at youtube.com (enter Canberra Symphony Orchestra in search box) from 7.30pm tonight, Friday, March 20. “We hope this lifts your spirits in difficult times,” an orchestra representative says.

ACT Arts Minister Gordon Ramsay was one of nine arts and cultural ministers who met by teleconference yesterday (Thursday, March 19) to discuss the evolving COVID 19 situation, agreeing to reconvene to further discuss cash flow issues and grant arrangements and to consider the role of creative development and digital capability to help sustain the flailing arts sector.

BOWRAL’S boutique Autumn Music Festival, reported in this week’s print version of “CityNews”, is the latest event to fall victim to the virus as further restrictions are placed on public gatherings. “So depressing for us freelance musicians,” says violinist-director Myee Clohessey.

CANBERRA-raised singer-comedian Queenie van de Zandt’s planned three-week tour of my show “BLUE: The Songs of Joni Mitchell” has just been cancelled. “Goodbye for now USA and hello the big wide world on the web,” Queenie says.

GEOFF Page’s Jazz at Smiths series will be suspended until at least June 3, while his other popular initiative, Poetry at Beyond Q, is off until at least June 8.

THE 23rd Moro Spanish Film Festival, due to screen nationally from April 21 at Palace Cinemas, will be postponed until August.

COMPANIES not optimistic that Canberra theatre will be able to re-open on April 19 have postponed shows, including Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss’s “Hubris”, scheduled for April 28 and 29, and Papermoon Theatre Company’s planned premiere season of Bart Meehan’s new play, “The Parting Glass”, in the Courtyard Studio on April 28.