Coronavirus: German conductor Christoph Poppen quarantined in Hong Kong warns live classical music faces losing its audience
- Principal guest conductor of Hong Kong Sinfonietta is confined to Wan Chai hotel ahead of concert before an empty City Hall because of Covid-19 curbs
- Classical music’s future in front of a live audience is ‘very fragile’ across the world, he warns
Christoph Poppen, principal guest conductor of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta since 2015, is set to perform without a live audience for the first time in his long career later this month at City Hall.
Speaking to the Post while quarantined in a Wan Chai hotel ahead of the concert, the Munich-based conductor described the state of live classical music across the world as “very fragile”. “If the pandemic goes on for two more years, we would probably lose our audience.”
It is not the first time that Poppen has undergone quarantine for a concert. Last month, he was in Seoul as artistic director of a fortnightly summer festival celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, for which he was quarantined for two weeks.
He is going through a similar 14-day process, which started last Tuesday, so he can perform with fellow German pianist Alexander Krichel on September 26 at the venue in Central.
Under the city’s Covid-19 policy, which only allows live performances with an audience from October 1, it will be recorded in a largely empty hall and released at a later date.
