Geneva (AFP)
"Music can save souls," she says: facing the snow-capped peaks of the Alps, virtuoso violinist Alexandra Conunova settles down on her balcony to offer her neighbors a lyrical interlude in their existence paced by the pandemic.
In the setting sun, there are many of them this Friday, at their window, in their garden, in the street, looking towards the top floor of a small building in Lausanne from where legati and stacatti rise.
Formed in particular by Renaud Capuçon, Alexandra Conunova summons Glück, Vivaldi and Bach, accompanied by the recorded score of a piano.
These concerts under the stars are for her "a common prayer" with her neighbors.
"We don't know how life is going to be after but the music, I think we realize that it's a magic way to take care of souls," she says nicely.
Covid-19 disease has already killed more than 1,300 people in Switzerland where some 29,000 have tested positive. This Alpine country has not confined its population as strictly as France, but schools and small shops have been closed and all cultural events suspended.
Alexandra Conunova was also scheduled to perform Friday evening in Heidelberg, Germany, but the concert was canceled.
"In a few months, when life takes its course, I am sure that even more people will want to go to concert halls because they will have understood how much music can be ..., yes, that the music can somehow save souls, "predicts the young woman.
First Prize in 2012 of the famous International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hanover, Germany, she was also winner in 2015 of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
© 2020 AFP