Shots, and a musical serenade, at NYC vaccination center

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Gravity, the Queen of Love and Hope performer and music artist from Brooklyn, plays a Sing For Hope piano while waiting during the observation period after getting her first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. Gravity said she set a goal during the pandemic of live-streaming her art at least ten minutes a day. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Pianist and CUNY music professor Barbara Podgurski plays with a string quartet for people who had received a COVID-19 vaccination and were waiting during the observation period, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. The convention center, which early in the pandemic served as a temporary field hospital, has been converted into a massive vaccination site. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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A string quartet performs at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center vaccination site, Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in New York. The music is part of a series of daily, two-hour midday concerts from a collaboration between the nonprofit group Sing for Hope and violinist Victoria Paterson, who started her own nonprofit, Music and Medicine. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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CORRECTS LAST NAME TO HUSSAINI FROM HUSSANI - Hussaini Dr. Azmatullah Hussaini, center, talks with Dr. Erica Crew, left, about the benefits of the presence of musicians as they stand outside a medical tent at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. For people on the road to immunity from the coronavirus, experiencing live music in the same space that served as a field hospital at the height of the pandemic was a fitting accompaniment on a day of hope. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Meti Gashi wears a sticker on his arm that reads, “I got my COVID-19 vaccine at the Javits Center” as he waits during the observation period after getting his vaccine Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. For people on the road to immunity from the coronavirus, experiencing live music in the same space that served as a field hospital at the height of the pandemic was a fitting accompaniment on a day of hope. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Victoria Paterson, second from right, plays with a string quartet while recently vaccinated people wait during a post-vaccination observation period inside the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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People waiting in a COVID-19 post-vaccination observation area applaud as they listen to a string quartet perform at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in New York. For people on the road to immunity from the coronavirus, experiencing live music in the same space that served as a field hospital at the height of the pandemic was a fitting accompaniment on a day of hope. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Frederick Rivera applauds as he and his cousin Joe Rivera listen to musicians, funded by Sing For Hope, play at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, where Frederick Rivera had just been vaccinated against COVID-19, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. “I love it,” said Rivera, “especially the strings. It’s very soothing.” (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Violinist Victoria Paterson, center, waves as recently vaccinated people and health care workers applaud the music of a string quartet at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center vaccination site, Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in New York. Members of the public, military and the health care workers all say the music has a calming effect during a stressful time. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Violinist Katie Kresek, who is also the concertmaster and co-orchestrator for the Tony-nominated Broadway musical “Moulin Rouge,” plays for people waiting out their post-vaccination observation period after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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A member of the New York National Guard sprays a chair with disinfectant between arrivals of groups waiting during the post-vaccination observation period Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in New York, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center vaccination site. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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A container of disinfecting wipes sits on Bach sheet music as violist Rachel Golub, left, plays in a piano quintet at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Pianist and CUNY music professor Barbara Podgurski reacts to an audience of recently vaccinated members of the public, while playing with Sing for Hope at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. The music is part of a series of concerts that come from a collaboration between the nonprofit group ‘Sing for Hope’ and violinist Victoria Paterson. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Sing for Hope co-founder Camille Zamora, left, takes a photo with Hildegardt Gemmer, center, and violinist Victoria Paterson, back right, who started her own nonprofit, Music and Medicine, after Gemmer was vaccinated at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. The center, one of New York City’s largest coronavirus vaccination centers is also serving as a home to a series of mini concerts. The music is part of a series of concerts that come from a collaboration between the nonprofit group ‘Sing for Hope’ and Paterson. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Sylvia Harrison wipes away tears as she listens to live music from a string quartet after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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A woman who had just been vaccinated places money into a tip jar for musicians who were playing for health care workers, the public and members of the New York National Guard at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, a mass vaccination site, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in New York. Collected by the nonprofit Sing for Hope, the money will to go toward supporting musicians and other performance artists who haven’t been able to work since the pandemic darkened New York’s stages and cultural spaces last March. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

By KATHY WILLENS

NEW YORK (AP) — On a recent weekday, the sounds of Vivaldi, Mozart and Bach greeted hundreds of just-inoculated New Yorkers as they entered a medical observation area at one of the city’s biggest COVID-19 vaccination sites, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

Hearing the music, many stopped to record videos of the five musicians in a piano and string ensemble gathered onstage, performing live.

For people on the road to immunity from the coronavirus, experiencing live music in the same space that served as a field hospital at the height of the pandemic was a fitting accompaniment on a day of hope.

For some of the musicians, it was something more.

Pianist Barbara Podgurski said her recent performances at the vaccination site were her first in public since the pandemic battered the city last spring.

“There were three months where I didn’t play the piano because I felt hopeless,” she said. “The reaction … I haven’t heard in a year. You realize how much people need music in their lives, to feel beauty and magic. It gives them hope.”

The music is part of a series of daily, two-hour midday concerts from a collaboration between the nonprofit group Sing for Hope and violinist Victoria Paterson, who started her own nonprofit, Music and Medicine.

Paterson said many of her fellow musicians have been out of work since the city’s music and performance scene shut down last spring.

The musicians who perform at the Javits Center are paid to play. There’s a tip jar, too, but contributions go to Sing for Hope so the music can continue.

“We can’t be buskers with family obligations at this stage in our careers,” Paterson said.

Podgurski, who is also a music professor at the City University of New York, said that with the city’s live entertainment scene still largely shut down, any paying job is extremely welcome. Some friends, she said, had to sell beloved instruments to pay bills.

Another recent performer at the Javits concerts was violinist Katie Kresek, concertmaster and co-orchestrator for the Tony-nominated Broadway musical “Moulin Rouge.”

Before the pandemic, her schedule was full, including performances in New Zealand and Australia. But after the pandemic hit, “within two weeks, all of my coming year bookings were canceled.”

Reflecting on playing at a vaccination center, Kresek said, “Emotionally, I felt I was contributing to this massive effort. It felt very gratifying to help out.”

The music was appreciated, too, by people who had come to get their vaccinations.

“We’ve all experienced so much loss in the last year,” said Janet Heit, who encountered the musicians after getting her shot. “It’s very emotional coming here to get vaccinated for something that wasn’t available when my father had COVID. Not only is it a great thing for the arts to have musicians, but it’s soothing and uplifting.”

Dr. Azmatullah Hussaini, a medical contractor at Javits, said he thought it helped put people nervous about their shots at ease.

“This past year has been a highly stressful environment and people’s mental health has been suffering,” he said. “But with people coming for the vaccine, this environment is filled with hope because this is a way to end the pandemic.”