Two world opera stars, Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier, urged the public on Monday to support this ‘fragile’ art in the face of the ‘catastrophe’ of theaters closed due to Covid-19. They launched a petition on the internet.
Jonas Kaufmann, considered the greatest tenor of his generation, and the French baritone Ludovic Tézier called on the public to sign this petition on change.org to bring his’ fundamental support to the present and the future of the lyric world, and, beyond, to all the performing arts professions, which are seriously threatened ‘.
They asked him to express his support for the idea of a society where beauty and culture must not disappear and of a Europe which has the duty to perpetuate the most beautiful legacy of its own civilization: l ‘Art’.
The petition also recalls that the multiple lyric productions currently broadcast on televisions and platforms free of charge ‘are only an expedient in the face of the magnitude of the catastrophe represented by the cancellation in series, without compensation, of all artistic contracts ‘.
The net, ‘a substitute’
‘Lyrical art is consubstantial with these’ plates’ that two millennia have not used and the current digitalization, as comforting as it is, is, in spite of this, only a magnificent substitute for a fragile emotion. We artists are fragile, the opera is fragile ‘, underlined the two singers.
Around the world, opera houses, theaters and concert halls muzzled by the coronavirus until further notice and still in the dark about reopening call on governments and the public for help.
Threat to the future
While cultural subsidies have already been falling for several years in several European countries, the scenes fear more cuts in public aid after the epidemic. Added to this is the question of whether in September, the opera and theater audiences will be there.
In the United States, where public aid for culture is almost non-existent, many theaters and opera houses face an existential threat.
The largest American opera house, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, alone is losing $ 60 million due to the cancellations. She organized a virtual gala on Saturday with around forty opera singers confined around the world, including Jonas Kaufmann.
/ ATS
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