Angela Merkel: No mass public events before August 31

Angela Merkel: No mass public events before August 31

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norman lebrecht

April 16, 2020

The German Chcancellor, beginning a process of easing the Coronavirus lockdown, has confirmed that public events – such as football or concerts – will not be permitted before August 31 at the very earliest.

Religious gatherings will also remain banned.

Comments

  • Mustafa Kandan says:

    Lets hope this is not a two year crisis. If life goes back to near normal by the end of this year we should be happy. A disaster for culture. We will see the collapse of numerous ensembles around the world.

    • Brian v says:

      We have to survive. My father was a ww1soldier then there was the Spanish flu.
      After that he did guard duty after work in the Second World War.
      He died just before his 90 birthday.

    • Saxon Broken says:

      Mustafa: “I meet your two years and raise it to three years!”

      Seriously, there is no need for people to competitively come up with more and more dramatic disaster scenarios. Life will slowly return to normal over the next few months, and we will learn to live with the virus. Even advanced western nations can stay in lockdown only for a few months at worst since we will, basically, run out of money sooner or later.

      In some places like Lombardy in Italy it is likely that about one-third of the population has (or has had) the virus already, meaning that they have acquired immunity (at least for a while, as we don’t know how long the immunity lasts). Prolonging the lockdown in such circumstances will accomplish very little.

  • Outoftheirminds says:

    This is pure madness. The world is turning on its head and there is no sense to any of this. There is no creativity about how to come back to performances just wholesale cancellations of everything. The populations will no stand for it when there are no cases and no deaths during the summer. These leaders are authoritarian and people will rebel at the ballot box.

    • Gustavo says:

      What I don’t get is why car showrooms and barber shops are open while museums, zoos, concert halls, theatres, churches, synagogs and mosques are shut.

      Keep your car in the gsrage and let your hair grow in protest!

    • Tom says:

      Well, at least a good deal more people will be alive to vote.

  • Andreas B. says:

    Probably a somewhat misleading post …

    As far as I understand, “concerts” in this context primarily means rock/pop concerts or open air festivals with (tens of) thousands of spectators – but not necessarily all classical concerts and theatre performances.

    Possibly there might be performances on a smaller scale (as well as reopened cinemas, perhaps) at some point before September, if social distancing and other protective measures can be implemented.

    Similarly, religious gatherings might be allowed earlier than September.
    Again, of course, with as much protection as possible:

    https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/soeder-gottesdienste-in-bayern-ab-mai-wieder-moeglich,RwKSceA

    In any case, the German federal government, together with the 16 Länder, is set to review and adjust measures for the time after May 3rd in two weeks.

  • Fighting The Rona. says:

    Donald needs to give her a call to ask her how to be a true leader and a man.

  • sam says:

    Back to the good old days, when classical music was meant for the courts.

    Hey, if you can’t afford musicians and a composer, you shouldn’t be listening to classical music.

  • Gustavo says:

    August 31 justifies calling Bayreuth off.

    The ideal season for phantoms of the opera.

  • FC says:

    The Deutsche Oper Berlin has only cancelled performances up until 3 May…… I wonder why they haven’t cancelled the later ones if this ban is until end of August.
    Or does each German state decide individually – anyone know please? I have a ticket for Parsifal on 17 May – which I obviously won’t be travelling to Germany for, regardless of whether the performance takes place or not 🙁

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