Music in spite of Corona
What's a musician to do in times such as these? We aren't allowed to meet as a choir and sing. Even if we could, half the elderly choir members would not attend the rehearsals because they are at-risk. To be honest, nor do I relish the idea of sitting in a room with 60 others for two hours. And yet the cinemas are back in operation in Germany. Concert halls are opening their doors again, spacing out the listeners, rationing the tickets and making the live concert sensation no longer quite as sensational. You can no longer sense the excitement from those around you. You might as well sit at home and listen to a CD. But I have been getting together with small groups of musicians, playing the violin and singing. And I've been practicing, of course, and making occasional videos of my progress over the past six months. However, the highlight for me was playing the violin in Mahler's woods near his composing hut in Maiernegg, Austria, on the Wörthersee. During my two weeks th