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Choral singing in the time of Covid-19 – 26 postcards from around the world<\/strong><\/p>\n Last March, the Choeur philharmonique de Strasbourg (Strasbourg Philharmonic Choir) suspended its rehearsals and cancelled its concerts until further notice because of Covid-19. Though obliged to remain in isolation, we were nevertheless certain that we were not alone: choral singing is as international as the pandemic. So we launched a survey of choirs around the world to share our good ideas and initiatives, our findings and our failures.<\/p>\n Twenty-six conductors or directors of more than sixty choirs answered our call: five professional choirs, twelve symphony choruses, thirteen university choirs, seven high-level vocal ensembles, one parish choir and twenty-four less experienced choirs \u2013 from a small ensemble of ten singers to a large chorus with 200 members, spread over four of the five continents: the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Chile for the Americas; Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia and the United Kingdom for Europe; South Africa for the African continent; and Japan for Asia.<\/p>\n This survey is not a scientific study; it will not answer questions about the danger of the virus for singers; it will not propose a miraculous or definitive solution; nor will it indicate when you will be able to give or listen to concerts again.<\/p>\n The answers to our survey are to be regarded as postcards from every part of a world which, like the virus, transcends geographical borders: that of the love of choral music, of creativity, and of collective pugnacity.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.5″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.5″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.5″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.5″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.5″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.5″]<\/p>\n Breaking the thread of time<\/strong><\/p>\n With the cessation of rehearsals and concerts, the pandemic has broken the thread of time for everyone \u2013 at just the wrong time for Blagovest from Riga (Latvia)<\/a><\/strong>, which was starting its thirtieth-anniversary celebrations. \u2018Emergency state due to corona pandemic struck us suddenly and crossed out all our ambitious plans for anniversary season.\u2019<\/p>\n In Cape Town (South Africa)<\/a><\/strong>, it was a historic break in a fifty-year-old programming tradition: the halt in rehearsals \u2018happened just before our annual performances of Handel\u2019s Messiah<\/em>, which the Philharmonia Choir had an unbroken record of singing at the Cape Town City Hall on Good Friday and Easter Sunday for the past 52 years!\u2019<\/p>\n In this context of an uncertain future, the past takes on the status of a refuge and allows us to be patient. Past projects are evoked while waiting to talk again about projects to come. In Milan (Italy)<\/a><\/strong>, the Chorus of La Scala has shared an extensive repertory of historical and recent images on social networks and websites.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.5″]<\/p>\n For choirs, too, the social and economic consequences are important.<\/strong><\/p>\n The cancellation of rehearsals and concerts has meant the suspension of musical activity for choirs, with the break in the social tie and the economic consequences that this generates. Each choir, according to its profile, has been affected in different ways. \u2028In the professional world, singers and conductors, but many other professions too, have been affected by the suspension of activities, as the Chorus of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo (Italy)<\/a><\/strong> points out: tailors, stagehands, stage managers, librarians and administrative staff among them. Financial compensation (or the lack of it) for the cessation of activity is directly dependent on national policies and varies according to the status of the ensembles. While in Vancouver (Canada)<\/strong><\/a>, \u2018the choir has received considerable support from the Canadian government\u2019, the situation is more difficult for the Symphonischer Chor in Bamberg (Germany)<\/a><\/strong>, because such arrangements are restricted to orchestras or soloists and not available to choirs. The freelance singers in Tokyo (Japan)<\/a><\/strong> are waiting to be employed again by their agency. The salaried conductors of amateur choirs have not escaped these difficulties, suffering in their turn from the policies of each country with regard to the associative choirs that employ them.<\/p>\n National diversities have also been expressed in the way choirs behave in the face of the epidemic. As Tsutomu Matsumura, Director General of the Japan Choral Association in Tokyo (Japan)<\/a><\/strong> points out, \u2018Here in Japan we have a self-restraint request that has no legal force, but as a national character, we continuously keep a firm self-restraint.\u2019<\/p>\n In this situation, conductors have vied with each to find creative alternatives.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.5″]<\/p>\n The creativity of choral conductors keeps choral activity going.<\/strong><\/p>\n In Paris (France)<\/strong><\/a>, the American Cathedral Choir has discovered another repertory of duets, trios and quartets for pre-recorded services. In Yekaterinburg (Russia)<\/a><\/strong>, Khor lyubiteley peniya recorded D. Tukhmanov\u2019s song \u2018Victory Day\u2019 \u2013 a song celebrating the end of the Second World War, chosen for its powerful symbolism.<\/p>\n In Bamberg (Germany)<\/a><\/strong> the Symphonischer Chor has benefited from the scientific survey commissioned by its partner orchestra (Bamberger Symphoniker) from the Freiburg Institute of Musical Medicine, the University Hospital and the Freiburg University of Music, to assess the risk of coronavirus infection in music.<\/p>\n In Madrid (Spain)<\/a> <\/strong>Jose Mena Polo has organised \u2018meetings and attempts at rehearsal\u2019 with his community choirs, and vocal technique sessions and documents on the works in to keep up the choristers\u2019 interest.<\/p>\n In Helsinki (Finland)<\/a><\/strong> Noora Hirn, conductor of the V\u00e4rin\u00e4 Chamber Choir, has organised \u2018a workshop on rhythmic choral music with a specialist in this field, a session with a singing teacher, a theoretical lesson on intonation, (…) regular group rehearsals, (…) a recording of a modern piece, (…) commissioned videos of songs and breathing exercises, and [organised] a workshop to plan the choir\u2019s long-term future goals\u2019.<\/p>\n In Kyoto (Japan)<\/a><\/strong> Yusuke Ishihara has created a \u2018separate choirs\u2019 Internet group to record Mendelssohn\u2019s lied Abschied vom Walde<\/em> from a distance \u2013learning about new software and technologies in the process. In Osaka (Japan)<\/a><\/strong>, Hideki Motoyama launched a Facebook appeal for a \u2018telechorus project\u2019 and scheduled a \u2018telechorus festival\u2019.<\/p>\n These resilient experiences have fully expressed solidarity and the spirit of collective responsibility. In Cianorte (Brazil) Nicol\u00e1s Gonz\u00e1lez Mart\u00ednez suspended rehearsals on 14 March, before the national instructions, out of concern for his choristers. In Santiago (Chile)<\/a><\/strong>, Karin Friedli underlines the importance of singing for maintaining balance and mental health in isolation. In Strasbourg (France)<\/a><\/strong>, we launched this questionnaire for other choirs in order to share our experiences.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.5″]<\/p>\n Today\u2019s digital technology cannot replace physical presence in a single place.<\/strong><\/p>\n Although, like Aleksandrs Brandavs from Riga (Latvia)<\/a><\/strong>, many conductors are delighted to have had a more individualised contact with their choir members, all of them also point out the limits of these digital experiments: difficulties related to the digital divide, as mentioned by Emiliano Flores from San Miguel de Tucum\u00e1n (Argentina); unequal distribution of Internet services and inconsistent connection capacities from one territory to another; uneven quality of equipment and mastery of computer tools among choir members. And musical difficulties too, as Val\u00e9rie Fayet, chorus director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire in Nantes (France)<\/a><\/strong> observes: \u2018To \u201cmake music\u201d together when there are seventy of you is no longer possible. I find it hard to imagine everyone at home with earphones. For me it\u2019s better than doing nothing at all, but it\u2019s not music. It\u2019s just a technological experience.\u2019 Olga Doubovskaya in Moscow (Russia)<\/a><\/strong>, noting the same musical difficulties, comes to a subdued conclusion: \u2018The most important thing, as always in a choir, is the collective approach.\u2019<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.5″]<\/p>\n What happens when we start up again ?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In terms of when and how they will restart their activities, too, choirs are subject to government choices; and these varying perspectives allow (or don\u2019t allow) each of them to project themselves into the post-Covid-19 era.\u00a0 This is how Simon Halsey from London (England)<\/a><\/strong>, who also conducts choirs in Birmingham (England)<\/a><\/strong> and Barcelona (Spain)<\/a><\/strong>, puts it: \u2018The UK is running very late in this crisis. But starting tomorrow, I\u2019ll begin to build a plan to restart with sectionals and octets \u2013 exactly as they are already doing in Berlin. But whether we have any concerts to aim for, I don\u2019t know. I expect Barcelona to begin sooner than the UK.\u2019 No plans for Eduardo L\u00f3pez Cabello and his three choirs from Leeuwarden<\/a><\/strong>, Blokker<\/a> <\/strong>and Amsterdam (Netherlands)<\/strong><\/a> either: \u2018No, none of the choirs has a fixed plan to physically resume rehearsals, because the government is not yet clear when the rules will be made less strict.\u2019 Whereas the Kampin Laulu choir in Helsinki (Finland)<\/a><\/strong> will resume rehearsals this June, Felipe Ramos in Vitacura (Chile)<\/strong><\/a> is waiting: \u2018We are very dependent on the institutions, so when they decide to open their doors, we\u2019ll come back with all our energy!\u2019 John Warren in Syracuse (USA)<\/a><\/strong>, will be waiting for the academic year to resume, but he is not sure if the usual number of students will be allowed: \u2018I am not sure there is space available where 120 people can rehearse in a useful way being that far apart. So far the orchestra has cancelled all spring concerts and we are discussing alternatives for the fall.\u2019 In any case, here again, the actors of the choral world display a realistic yet buoyant optimism, as Pascale Verdier, conductor of the Ch\u0153ur de l\u2019Orchestre de Pau – Pays de B\u00e9arn in Pau (France)<\/a><\/strong> testifies: \u2018We\u2019ll see in September if our functioning can be (must be) shaken up, modified, improved… but in any case: HAUT LES CH\u0152URS!\u2019<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.5″]<\/p>\nVersion fran\u00e7aise : ici<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n