Strobe lights flash across a near-empty dance floor, as a DJ live-streams thumping electronic music from a Singapore nightclub to revellers confined to their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak sweeping the globe has shuttered once lively nightspots from London to New York, but innovative DJs have started putting their performances online so clubbers don't miss out. The trend is another example of how the virus, which has left some 3.6 billion people stuck at home under lockdowns, is upending daily life in ways unthinkable until recently as governments impose social-distancing curbs to stem its spread.

Like building a musical jigsaw puzzle, the National Orchestra of France used the magic of technology to weave together the sight and sounds of its musicians, who filmed themselves playing alone in their homes into a seamless, rousing whole.

Led by their concertmaster Vasko Vassilev, musicians from the Royal Opera House gave a live performance from their living rooms, kitchens and boats, to mark Bach Day.

After eight years of silence Bob Dylan released a new song, news wires reported. It is a 17-minute reflection on the 1960s and the assassination of John Kennedy. "They blew out the brains of the king. Thousands were watching at home and saw the whole thing," he sings in the opening of Murder Most Foul.

As the coronavirus pandemic hits indefinite pause on concerts and touring, many musicians are instead streaming shows for tens of thousands of fans self-quarantining. Artists including Neil Young, Chris Martin of Coldplay and Christine and the Queens are among those who have played online shows for the folks at home, as governments worldwide ban mass gatherings and urge people to hunker down.

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest scheduled for May in Rotterdam has been cancelled for the first time in the event's 64-year history due to the coronavirus outbreak, organisers said Wednesday. Broadcasters were now in talks with the Dutch port city for it to host the event - a glitzy pageant of songs that has millions of viewers across Europe and further afield - in 2021, they said.

The Sofia Opera and Ballet is continuing its new initiative to stream some of its classics for free. On 15 March the cultural institution's Facebook page launched the online platform SOFIA OPERA PEARLS STREAMS - a series of streams of live recordings of shows from the opera's vast repertoire.

Don't follow trends and imitate other artists or sounds that are popular. Someone said to me a couple of years ago, if you are trying to copy today’s sound, you’re a year too late, says DJ Rebūke in an interview to Europost.

High acclaim from German music critics followed the latest performance of Sonya Yoncheva as Medea at the Staatsoper Berlin. The superstar soprano sang the title part and the media coverage underscored that she kept the audiences mesmerised during all of her performances.

The problem is though that music has become devalued and viewed as a free commodity. There is so much available on social media that an artist can become just a number. Also there are less places to play than 25 years ago. So everybody has to travel more in order to make a living. It's not easy to keep a seven piece band out there, but we manage, says Ray Gelato in an interview to Europost.