British Music Festival Seeks Ways to Continue in Pandemic

 

As coronavirus restrictions¹ ease and social distancing rules change, creative ideas and careful planning will be important for the survival² of musical festivals around the world.

With plenty of outdoor space, the United Kingdom's Glyndebourne festival may be one of the luckier ones.

Founded in 1934 by John Christie and his wife Audrey Mildmay at their country home, the yearly Glyndebourne festival is now a world-class event.

Performances take place in a 1,200-seat opera house set in large gardens with a beautiful lake. Women and men enjoy putting on their nice clothes to attend. During 90-minute time periods, the crowd spreads out onto the grounds to eat food, or picnic, on the grass.

In 2020, the COVID-19 crisis³ forced Glyndebourne to cancel the sold-out festival and give back the money for tickets.

The rural nature of the area may have helped the festival survive. Organizers learned lessons after another crisis – a 2001 outbreak of the foot-and-mouth animal disease that hurt British farming.

With large parts of the countryside shut down to prevent the spread of the disease, the festival was under threat. It ended up going ahead, but the crisis turned out to a wake-up call - something that warns people of a problem or danger. Since that time, Glyndebourne has put efforts into building up savings⁴.

That money helped the festival get through 2020. It will also allow the organization to make some financial plans for 2021, said Glyndebourne's director, Sarah Hopwood.

"We are going to be drawing on reserves to make this happen," she said. "It's about people. It's about keeping our staff employed, it's about providing work ... and it's about engaging with our audiences."

Engage means to get or keep someone's attention or interest.

For now, 600 tickets per performance, or about 50 percent of the amount the event can hold, will go on sale. Officials decided⁵ this would permit enough social distancing to hold a safe event.

Hopwood said more tickets would be released for sale later if government rules permitted. The festival runs from May 20 to August 29.

Preparing for performances

Rehearsals⁷, events where people prepare to perform, are particularly difficult. In normal years, up to five companies, or about 1,000 people, would arrive at the same time before the festival. Performers coming from abroad would stay in local housing.

This year, rehearsals have to be spaced out. Performers based in other countries face quarantine and must take COVID-19 tests.

"There will be bumps⁸ along the way, and we will be ready to adapt as we have to," said Hopwood.

Adapt means to change one's behavior so that it is easier to live or work.

This year's festival will have works by Wagner, Mozart, and three new productions of operas by Janacek, Rossini and Verdi.

Social distancing will be in force during rehearsals, but the restrictions might be eased by the time performances take place. Directors and performers are preparing for several different situations, Hopwood said.

"We may have productions going from a fully⁹ socially distanced rehearsal⁶ room onto stage where suddenly people are allowed to embrace."

Words in This Story

festival – n. an organized series of performances

ticket – n. a piece of paper that allows you to see a show, participate in an event, travel on a vehicle, etc.

allow – v. to permit

reserve – n. a supply of something that is stored so that it can be used at a later time

staff – n. a group of people who work for an organization or business

quarantine – n. the period of time during which a person or animal that has a disease or that might have a disease is kept away from others to prevent the disease from spreading

embrace – v. to hold someone in your arms as a way of expressing love or friendship

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。

3 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

4 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

7 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 bumps   

碰撞( bump的名词复数 )； 肿块； 轻微撞车事故； 隆起物

参考例句：

• I had goose bumps when we watched the fireworks. 我们看烟火的时候，我起鸡皮疙瘩。
• E was kind of zig-zagging across the pavement, and I bumps into 'im accidental-like. 他有点歪歪斜斜地在人行道上走，我一不小心撞到了他的怀里。 来自英汉文学

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。