Concert in Pointe-Claire celebrates community found through COVID-19 lockdown livestreams

A Montreal teacher who livestreamed song requests during the early days of the pandemic held an in-person concert five years later to raise money for charity.

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown five years ago, Beaconsfield High School math teacher Matthew Nardozza found himself in the same predicament as many parents.

“I was trying to come up with different ways to keep him occupied,” he said, referring to his five-year-old son. “And one way was, let’s try and do music every day.”

Some of his son’s friends’ parents heard what he was doing and asked if they could join, so he started doing Facebook livestreams. At first, it was mostly children’s music, but soon Nardozza says the parents started making requests.

“And I thought, why not create a space, a community so to speak, that people can tune in and they can interact with me, send me requests, because I play music by ear,” Nardozza said.

Though math is his day job, Nardozza said music has always been part of his life and gives him a vessel to process his emotions. He said doing the concerts helped get him through the anxiety and isolation that came with the COVID lockdowns, and he’s received feedback from others that it helped them, too.

Once the lockdowns were lifted and the world reopened, he stopped performing, but said he always wanted to invite those who followed him for one last singalong, this time in person. So, he decided to organize a concert to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the pandemic.

Several hundred showed up at Westside Gathering in Pointe-Claire for a free concert Friday night, where Nardozza performed with a full band and back-up singers, singing some of the most requested hits from the lockdown lives.

Donations were taken to support Amcal, a non-profit organization that provides mental health support to children and families.

“We’ve gone from zero to 1,000 in calls [for help],” said Amcal Executive Director Lisa Filici. “People need help, they need people to listen to them as well. There’s waiting lists everywhere.”

Filici said people need to know they’re not alone as they struggle. Something Nardozza said he experienced first-hand during the pandemic.

“Music is a way to have hope for the future, to reflect on your past and to be in the present,” he said.