Moscow (AFP)
The famous Russian Bolshoi Theater announced Thursday that it will broadcast its best shows on YouTube, when more than a third of humanity is confined to their homes to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
"For the first time in history, the Bolshoi will broadcast online a series of shows recorded in the past, which are part of its gold collection," the theater said in a statement.
From Friday until April 10, six shows will be offered to spectators on the official Bolshoi channel on YouTube, "without geographic restrictions", according to the same source.
The Ballet du Lac des cygnes will be the first to be presented to the public on Friday at 4:00 p.m. GMT and will be followed in the coming days, always at the same time, by the opera Boris Godounov or the ballet by Sleeping Beauty.
Each show will remain available on YouTube for 24 hours after it airs.
"The theater has always offered people unique emotions, unique feelings," recalls the director of the Bolshoi, Vladimir Ourine.
"Of course, we don't want to lose contact with the public," he said, hoping that this theater initiative "would cheer up and at least bring spiritual health to those who love the art of Bolshoi ".
The organizers of the festival "The Russian Seasons" have already launched from Monday a free online service allowing the public to discover theatrical performances, concerts and ballet shows.
Distributed within the framework of the project "Stay at home with the Russian Seasons", they are all presented by large Russian artistic collectives and cultural establishments having participated in this festival.
Dozens of theaters and operas around the world, in Europe and the United States, have closed their doors to the public in recent days, as part of the fight against the coronavirus, while continuing to present their concerts and shows , posted online.
Russia has officially registered 840 cases of coronavirus, according to the latest statistics released Thursday.
© 2020 AFP