Opera returns to Vienna with hotel 'window concert'

Two opera singers and a string ensemble were invited to play at the Hotel Zeitgeist

Last updated: June 02, 2020 | 13:29

AFP and Compiled by Christian Borbon, Digital Content Editor

2 MIN READ

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Deserted by tourists, a hotel in Vienna gave itself a temporary one-night-only makeover, turning itself into an outdoor concert hall.

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The guest bedrooms, which have stood empty during the coronavirus lockdown, were transformed into opera boxes for an evening, and the hotel courtyard into a stage to create a rare moment of joy in the city of music.

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Two opera singers and a string ensemble were invited to play at the Hotel Zeitgeist.

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Monika Medek and the Camerata Carnutum orchestra perform for guests of Zeitgeist Hotel during a window concert (Fensterkonzert) in Vienna.

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As they performed in the courtyard, the spectators looked on from the windows of 40 or so rooms which they had rented for the evening.

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And they approved, showering applause on to the head of the tuxedoed conductor and his elegant soprano Monika Medek.

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Paid bookings for the "window concert" were sold out in three days, hotel director Andreas Purtscher told AFP.

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Purtscher said the concert was intended to give the artists the opportunity to perform again and "to help people get out, to find a sense of normality in their contact with others".

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He hoped it would "remove some of the fear associated with the period of restrictions".

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Guests of Zeitgeist Hotel listen from their rooms to singers Monika Medek and Dagmar Dekanovsky and the Camerata Carnutum orchestra, during a window concert (Fensterkonzert) in Vienna.

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