Barcelona opera house reopens with a live audience of 2,292 plants

25 June 2020

The string quartet will serenaded the audience of plants at Barcelona’s Liceu on Monday. Picture: Getty

By Sian Hamer, CLASSIC FM London

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A string quartet serenaded the “growing” audience at the reopening of Barcelona’s Liceu on Monday.

Spain, a country deeply rooted in live music traditions, is marking the return of classical concerts following coronavirus lockdown. But it wasn’t members of the public who attended this first opera house showing…

Instead, the seats at the Gran Teatro del Liceu were reserved for the leaves, shoots and roots of an all-plant audience, or a “vegetable kingdom”, as artistic director Víctor García de Gomar coined it.

The Uceli Quartet performed Puccini’s single-movement ‘Crisantemi’ (Chrysanthemums) for the 2,292 potted patrons, the inspiration for which was a striking yellow flower.

The ‘Concert for the Biocene’ took place on Monday (22 June), and though the guest list was strictly limited to vegetation, humans still enjoyed the event via a livestream.

Read more: The concert halls and opera houses reopening after lockdown >

Eugenio Ampudia, the artist behind the concert, wanted to reflect the social effect that the confinement of lockdown has caused, across the globe.

We have become, Ampudia says on the Liceu’s website, “a public deprived of the possibility of being public”.

“At a time when an important part of humankind has shut itself up in enclosed spaces and been obliged to relinquish movement, nature has crept forward to occupy the spaces we have ceded,” he told the Guardian.

Ampudia continues: “And it has done so at is own rhythm, according to its patient biological cycle. Can we broaden our empathy and bring it to bear on other species? Let’s start by using art and music and inviting nature into a great concert hall.”

All the leafy concert attendees have been donated to health workers following the event, to thank them for all their efforts during the pandemic. (C) 2020 ClassicFM London

Health authorities say choir practice ...

... caused the ‘superspread’ of 52 coronavirus cases

By ClassicFM London

Health authorities say choir practice caused the ‘superspread’ of 52 coronavirus cases. Picture: YouTube/John Yaeger

By Helena Asprou, ClassicFM London

4K

The infamous choir rehearsal, held two weeks before Washington State’s lockdown, infected 52 singers with coronavirus and resulted in two deaths.

A choir practice that infected 52 singers with coronavirus and resulted in two deaths is now being described by US health authorities as a “superspreader” of the virus.

The outbreak, first reported in the LA Times in March, occurred during a two-and-a-half-hour rehearsal at a church near Seattle.

Now a new study, led by staff at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirms the practice was attended by 61 members of Washington State’s Skagit Valley Choral, including a symptomatic patient, 32 confirmed cases and 20 probable secondary COVID-19 cases. Of those members, three were hospitalised.

The study suggests the outbreak was ‘likely facilitated by close proximity (within 6 feet) during practice and augmented by the act of singing’.

Click here to view the NHS’s latest coronavirus advice >

Study warns ‘superspread’ of 52 coronavirus cases in US town caused by choir rehearsal. Picture: CDC

At the rehearsal, choir members had no physical contact but sat close together. The study says a fine mist of virus particles, emitted through singing, might have contributed to the outbreak.

It also transpires that one singer felt unwell at the time of the practice, but was unaware they had the virus.

Read more: World’s greatest ballerinas dance in their homes in video for coronavirus relief >

Although the choir members said they had no physical contact, some snacked on cookies and oranges towards the back of the church during the 15-minute break and others arrived early to help set up chairs – which were arranged in six rows of 20 chairs each, spaced 6-10 inches apart.

The singers who fell ill with COVID-19 – who were mostly women, with an average age of 69 – reported flu-like symptoms from one to 12 days after the rehearsal.

Self-isolating choir members sing new psalm ‘in time of coronavirus’

To control the spread of COVID-19, the scientists have concluded that “superspreader” events such as choir and orchestra rehearsals are best avoided in the current climate, saying in the case of this rehearsal: “choir practice attendees had multiple opportunities for droplet transmission from close contact”.

Read more: The best classical music and opera live streams available online >

If music groups must get together, scientists advise “physical distancing” and “wearing cloth face coverings”.

They also suggest bringing awareness to music groups, to discourage symptomatic patients from attending rehearsals and potentially infecting other singers and musicians. And where social distancing and wearing masks is not possible, singers are being advised to “wash hands often, cover coughs and sneezes, and frequently clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces.”