Around the Music Festival

On February 26, Berlin’s major theaters, concert hall directors and orchestra music directors sent a Open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mayor Müller of Berlin, calling for the early opening of cultural facilities.

The letter has been signed by 20 people, including conductors who are the music directors of the orchestra, such as Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Jurowski and Donald Runnicles. In addition, most of the general directors of the opera house and hall, such as Barrie Kosky, have joined.

Germany has been locked down since November 2 due to the spread of infection from last fall. The extension has been repeated and continues until March 7. Regulations have become stricter as the extension continues. In principle, movement over a radius of 15 km is prohibited, and it is obligatory to wear a medical mask instead of a cloth mask.

At the theater, Komische Oper Berlin announced last week that the performance would be canceled until May 1. However, only Komische Oper decided to cancel after Easter on April 4th at the German theater. Other theaters have canceled their performances until the end of March and are waiting for their reopening.

The Open Letter is as follows.

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We turn to you in advance of our renewed meeting on March 3rd with the following appeal:

Please give culture the space that the studies on the infection process legitimize for spectators in theaters and concert halls and that the basic right to artistic freedom makes urgently necessary. We demand that the institutions we manage be opened as soon as possible, and in any case in harmony with the retail sector.

Make it possible for our audience, the schoolchildren of Berlin and the citizens of Berlin to visit our cultural and educational facilities with a minimum of risk, regulated and controlled by safe hygiene.

Corresponding studies by the TU Berlin, the Fraunhofer Institute and the Federal Environment Agency have confirmed that the hygiene concepts of the cultural institutions guarantee the lowest risk of infection in public spaces.

Our cultural institutions had to close in November and December of last year with a “lockdown light” (and) with no noticeable effect on the infection. At the end of March, we will have gone five months without an audience. With the guidelines for the return of culture and sport published this Monday a well-founded concept developed by 20 experts has been presented.

As general music directors and artistic directors, taking into account the current infection situation and in continuous exchange with experts, we fight for

– the survival of public reception of art,
– the continuation of an artistic debate in society and
– a revival of Berlin as a metropolis of art and music.


Photo：Theater am Schiffbauerdamm　/　Moritz Haase