Classical Music At Vienna in the Post-Pandemic
Vienna, the capital of classical music, became the city to take the first steps towards normalization.
Yury Revich (1991, Moscow) is one of the most expressive and versatile musicians of his generation, the Winner of an ECHO Klassik 2016 “Newcomer of the Year” award, “Young Artist of the Year 2015” at the International Classical Music Awards and “Young Musician of the Year” by the Beethoven Centre Vienna. He shared with us his views and opinions about the current situation of classical music life in Vienna.
Yury Revich stated his words that the quarantine is over in Austria and life is slowly returning to normal, the restaurants, shops, and bars in the city are open until midnight, and the necessity of wearing a mask is now out of their lives, except for public transportation and expressed his hope that the classical music concerts will gradually return to the normal state.
Yury Revich continued that, as the first of the innovations brought in the "new normal" process, concerts were started in the large halls of 2000 with 100 listeners quotas, but step by step from 1 July, this figure will allow 500 people and eventually 1000 people in August. The artist said that all concerts in Vienna, which lived with classical music during the pandemic process, were canceled, but the country was recovering slowly after 2 months.
The artist anticipates that he is one of the first artists to perform "new normal" concerts and that he is the future of the concert concept “Friday Night’s With Yury Revich”, which has a wide fan base all over Europe, especially Austria. This concept, just like in-home concerts in the 19th and 20th centuries, defines as a more private, more intimate, more communication, and synergy that can be established between the artist and the audience. He took attention to the fact that the biggest advantage of this concept is not only the health reliability but also the interactive connection between the artists and the audience, the intensity of the audience will be more intense and the synergy that will emerge will be unique and exciting.
Yury Revich organized a charity campaign concert "Dreamland with yury revich supports Rome“ at Stephan Cathedral in May. The income from this special event donated to Milan Sacco, Roma Spallanzani, and Napoli Cotugno hospitals, fighting against the treatment of infectious diseases in Italy and the Covid-19 emergence.
The violin virtuoso does not think that life may be the same as before the pandemic in the near future. Especially considering the second wave of viruses that do not fall off the agenda, he believes that classical music will continue to exist in our lives with small concerts. He emphasized that new seating arrangements should be planned for concerts that require large organizations.
As an example of this answer, Yury performed for 3 days at the IMUKO festival which has been the founder and art director of the world-famous cellist Benedict Kloeckner in Koblenz, Germany on July 17. “String Battle”, the unique duel of stringers Yury Revich & Benedict Kloeckner, was a truly unmissable concert and took place at the outdoor venues Schloss Burg Namedy, Loreleyblick Maria Ruh and Schloss Vollards. Also, the festival took place taking into account the social distance and following the rule of the limited number of people.
What did the famous virtuoso say about the effect of the pandemic on classical music artists?
The artist has always touched on the financial problems of young and emerging musicians, to whom he also supports.
Revich “The musicians playing in the orchestras are already getting their monthly salaries and their social security continues. Big stars are already winning well. However, it is up to the concerts that young musicians and soloists can pay their bills and continue their lives. This is a very difficult period for them, it is very important for the state to financially support these young artists.”
Vienna looks forward to the future but looks hopefully. At the moment, in Vienna, the chamber orchestra and recital programs with a maximum of 100-150 audiences are being announced. The most recent date for multi-audience symphonic concert programs was announced in August. Due to the second wave rhetoric, the Austrian government does not lose its mandate even though it has minimized the bans within the country.
This interview was made on 20th June 2020, published in Turkish on 3rd July & revised on 17th July 2020 for English.
Osman Enfiyecizade
July 21, 2020, Istanbul / Turkiye