Solo for single spectator and social distancing: this is the parade found by the renowned Orchestra of French-speaking Switzerland in rooms closed by sanitary measures.
Never has chamber music been so aptly named.
The experience offered to music lovers, deprived of concerts by the containment measures, could not be more intimate.
Concerts are given all over Geneva, flower shops, boutiques or old industrial buildings.
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Of the ten-minute performance, the viewer only knows the date, time and place.
The work and the performer remain a mystery until H hour. That's how Filipe De Figueiredo found himself in a gallery on an island in the Rhône, listening to Verena Schweizer performing a sonata by Jean- Sébastien Bach on his viola violin.
The Swiss music lover recounts this new experience: "
It's almost a little intimidating to be in front of the musician, not only you listen to him but you can see what he's doing up close and so it's an experience which is great. -pleasant.
"
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If the experience for the spectator is unprecedented, the musician - a member of the orchestra since 1998 - has also had to adapt her way of preparing.
After this concert "
like no other
", she confided her first feelings: "
It's an extraordinary moment for us because we share a very intimate moment with a person that we don't even know and it's very intense, yes very special.
There are people who are very moved, almost all of them, and that is gratifying for us too because these are reactions that we do not normally have, the public, usually, is anonymous
”.
Solo musical journey
Composed of 112 permanent musicians, the Orchester de la Suisse Romande was founded in 1918 by Ernest Ansermet, who was its principal conductor until 1967. His tours have taken him to Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna and beyond in Moscow or Tokyo, Beijing, Bombay, New York, San Francisco and Buenos Aires.
And now, its musicians accustomed to large concert halls invite the spectator on a solo musical journey.
“
We really have all types of feedback, there are people who (...) leave the concert without saying a word, are full of emotion, others who on the contrary want to share this moment with the musicians and take a few minutes to discuss with them what they just heard, the current life of the musicians and the difficulty
"of the period, explains Steve Roger, general manager of the orchestra.
Then he added: “
We have both subscribers who rushed onto the internet to be sure they could attend, as well as people who are not used to coming to concerts.
"
This experience, now free, could continue a bit.
The Swiss federal government announced on Wednesday the first reductions in the new containment measures put in place more than a month ago to try to control a strong wave of contamination.
If all goes well - and if the covid variants can be contained - the federal government promised new easing measures on March 22, and only then could the orchestra perform again. in front of a limited number of spectators.
In any case, violinist Verena Schweizer misses the thrill of a large and enthusiastic audience.
If the applause, the reactions, the squeaking of the armchairs have disappeared, she nevertheless discovered another adventure by performing alone in front of a single spectator.
It is now a matter of confronting "
a musical face-to-face
".
And she deciphers this new way of playing: "
You have to understand who you are talking to, then find calm, silence ... Only then can the concert begin.
"
A report on the anti-coronavirus concerts of the Orchester de Suisse Romande
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