As the COVID-19 Culture Recovery Fund opens, will hibernation or adaptation be the best long-term survival strategy? (Originally published on 11 August 2020 at www.toksdada.com)

Growing up in East Manchester, concert halls were a haven – a home away from home. Some of my happiest moments were spent in concert halls – singing in the Hallé Youth Choir on stage at the Bridgewater Hall for a recording of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, hearing Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite performed live for the first time at the RNCM Concert Hall, taking a youth orchestra field-trip to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall for pianist Kathryn Stott’s 50th birthday concert and feeling totally inspired as the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Natalie Klein performed Giovanni Sollima’s Violoncelles Vibrez! as part of a 10-piece cello ensemble alongside Sollima himself. My emotional attachment to concert halls runs deep.