Vienna (AFP)
Deserted by tourists, a Vienna hotel transformed its rooms into opera boxes and its courtyard for an evening into a concert stage, a rare moment in the city of music still silenced by the coronavirus.
A conductor in a tuxedo, a soprano in a long dress, rounds of applause: the atmosphere of the first evenings was there on Saturday for the two opera singers and the string ensemble invited to play at the Zeitgeist hotel.
Their scene: the inner courtyard of this modern establishment. Their audience: spectators at the windows of some forty rooms rented for this performance.
Paying reservations for this first "window concert" were complete in three days, hotel manager Andreas Purtscher told AFP.
One way, he assures, of "giving the opportunity to artists to perform again" and "helping to make people stand out, so that they find a normalcy in their contact with others" to "take away the fear of the period of restrictions a bit".
Austria has lifted since mid-April many restrictions taken to fight against the spread of the new coronavirus but cultural life is still at a standstill due to the ban on gathering more than a hundred people in one place.
For artists, "the job opportunities disappeared overnight," says Purtscher. He plans to hold at least three more "window concerts" until August.
Most of the artists programmed in the classical music halls that usually make the Austrian capital's world reputation are freelancers, now deprived of income with the cancellation of their commitments.
For their part, the hotels in Vienna, deserted by the clientele of tourists and business travelers, expect for June a filling rate of less than 10%, according to the chamber of commerce of the city.
The director of the Zeitgeist hotel expects a difficult period "of at least a year" before the sector resumes normal activity.
© 2020 AFP