The first video, posted on February 21, featured principal clarinettist Andrew Simon, who has performed with the orchestra for 31 years. He played a short, tango-style piece by Astor Piazzolla.

“I got a lot of joy from doing it,” he says by phone. “We feel so isolated. But we know the audience wants to hear from us. For me, I wonder if the audience understands what they do for us.” He says the videos are a great way for the orchestra members to introduce themselves to the people to get to know them better, and adds: “We miss you!”

The New Yorker has already done a second video with his friend, pianist Warren Lee, whose daughter was the page turner. His son filmed them playing Joseph Horovitz’s Sonatina.

“We studied that piece with Horovitz and he’s 93 years old! We sent the video to him and he loved it,” Simon says.

Another contribution came from concertmaster Jing Wang. The violinist’s video features him by the beach near Repulse Bay, playing a reflective piece called The Seashell by Carl Engel.

“It’s a piece I used to play as an encore when I was a student,” explains Wang. “When I was growing up in New York, I never thought much about the piece. One day, when I went to the beach, I wondered what it would be like to play the piece and hear the sound of the wind.”

Wang has been using his time at home to focus on pieces of music he had not had much time for before. “I’m using the opportunity to enrich myself with [a] different repertoire [to the one] we do during the season. As much as life goes on in Hong Kong, it’s important to keep the imagination going.”

Meanwhile, a fun video came from the home of French horn player Homer Lee Siu-lam, his percussionist wife Sophia Woo Shuk-fai and their 16-year-old son, Yannis.

Woo plays the piano, while Lee and his son play the horn. They chose the piece The Prayer from the German fairy tale opera, Hansel and Gretel, based on the Grimm brothers’ story. It was written by 19th century German composer Engelbert Humperdinck (not the 1970s singer who took his name).

“This piece is when the children are in the forest they are very scared, so they pray and a fairy comes to make them sleep well so that the next morning they can find their way out of the forest,” explains Lee.

Lee, who has played with the orchestra for 33 seasons, says the response from friends and family has been great, and he hopes it will boost people’s spirits during this tense time.

Hong Kong Philharmonic chief executive Benedikt Fohr is pleased with the positive response these video clips have generated. “The idea [of the video clips] is great. It cannot replace a concert in a hall, but it is another way to bring music to society. We want to make people proud of art and music.”

He adds he has orchestra players lining up to record their own video clips, with more coming up almost on a daily basis. “We were already doing these videos before the virus, to inform the public about upcoming concerts – but this has a special meaning now.”

The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Symphony Orchestra are posting similar video clips on social media to engage with their audiences.

Simon, the clarinettist, says he is pleased with the feedback the video clips have generated.

“Everyone comments on social media. I haven’t seen a negative comment. I thought, ‘Wow! This is something.’”