The essence and spirit of the annual and world-wife Make Music Day, happening Sunday, is focused on live performance. Since 1982, Make Music Day — always held on June 21, the longest day of the year, to ensure even more music — has celebrated musicians from all over, of all skill levels and in any genre.

Enter another world-wide event: A plague.

Musicians, though, are mostly a committed and optimistic lot. As such, Make Music Day will go on as usual — just in mostly virtual fashion. Locally, Rich Martin, owner of Telegraph Records, has organized a schedule of virtual performances to ensure that many artists aren't in direct competition with one another. The best way to see and hear these acts, Martin says, is to seek out the artists' social media pages — although his goal is to coordinate them as well through the Telegraph Records' site.

The schedule:

12:30 p.m. — James Harris

1 p.m. — Jason Deeble

2 p.m. — Anne Castellano

2 p.m. — Leigh and Hunter Duo

2:30 p.m. — Ada Mae Florek

3 and 6 p.m. — DJ sets from Pamela Wilson (NL Drone Orchestra)

4 p.m. — Craig Edwards

4:30 p.m. — Brian Gore and Landon Elliott

5 p.m. — Hugh Birdsall and Dana Tanaki

6 p.m. — Anna May

6:30 p.m. — Kathleen Parks & Brad Bensko

8 p.m. — Stephanie Sutera and Sonorous Rising

Also scheduled to perform but with no confirmed set times are the Balkun Brothers and Bruce McDermott.

And singing live at 2 p.m. at the New London Homeless Hospitality Center, 730 State Pier Road, is soul vocalist Nosame Correia. The performance is open to the public with social distancing measures in place.

For more information on local Make Music Day activities, visit newlondonartscouncil.org.

— Rick Koster