The coronavirus impulses concerts without audiences

European governments have begun to apply drastic measures to control the epidemic of the coronavirus and one of the economic sectors that will suffer the consequences in a more inclement way is that of live music. For obvious reasons, a crowded concert hall is one of the areas that can most help the spread of Covid-19 and, for this reason, Italy has suspended the entire concert schedule of the country and France has restricted meetings of more than 1,000 people

However, where one door closes another opens and this is the concert without a physical audience. For example, the Teatro de La Fenice in Venice has proposed to its subscribers two performances that can be seen via streaming on its YouTube channel. In Lausanne (Switzerland), the Wednesday and Thursday concerts of the renowned French violinist François Capuçon without audience were broadcast on radio and television last week.

Other spaces such as the Teatro Massimo in Palermo have announced that starting Tuesday, March 10, they will carry out an intense opera program through their web channel - not live. They will start with ‘La Traviata’ from Verdi, continuing this way until they cannot open the theater.

Surely the majority of live music viewers do not even consider the experience of living a concert a few meters from their favorite artists to watch it on a screen, however large, but if the marketing is applied you will probably find a new niche. Who would have said 20 years ago that the public was going to pay more than 50 euros to see ‘perform’ an hologram called Hatsune Miku?