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So they decided to film their performance of
works by a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and 18th century French
composers Chevalier de Saint-Georges and Andre Gretry and offer
it on a new video-on-demand portal launched last week by the
Opera de Paris, which runs the Garnier and the Bastille opera
venues.
"Of course it is sad, but we're very lucky to be able to film
this concert, especially because some pieces of music that will
be played have never been recorded", said French soprano Pauline
Texier.
France's government announced in November that a lockdown
imposed at the end of October to tackle a second coronavirus
wave would be partially lifted by Dec. 15 and would include the
re-opening of cultural venues.
But last Thursday Prime Minister Jean Castex said museums,
cinemas and theatres would not re-open before at least the
beginning of January as the target of keeping daily new
infections below 5,000 had not been met.
"For me, it's really a shame that we currently cannot perform.
Because we, as artists, are incomplete without the public",
Fernando Escalona, a countertenor from Venezuela, told Reuters
during the rehearsal.
People from the arts and entertainment world protested in Paris
on Tuesday against the government's decision.
Castex said extra financial aid would be granted to artists and
there would be a Jan. 7 meeting to see if some reopening was
possible.
Not being able to perform in front of an audience has "become
the new normal", American bass Aaron Pendleton said.
"But we're still able to share our work and we're still able to
work so we've been lucky to have that", he added.
(Reporting by Lucien Libert; Writing by Benoit Van Overstraeten;
Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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