As performance venues across the country were shutting their doors to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance decided that the show must go on. On March 16 Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Grammy Award-winning South African choral group, delivered an incredible performance to an empty Royce Hall auditorium. This is the story of that concert.

On this episode of Works In Progress, we hear from Albert Mazibuko, founding member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo; Tom Schnabel, the host of KCRW’s Rhythm Planet; and Kristy Edmunds, the Executive and Artistic Director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance.