‘Many musicians have given up on Hong Kong’: fallout from Omicron curbs hits concert and theatre performers and organisers hard
- Dozens of concerts and theatre performances will be cancelled or postponed because of venue closures rushed in to curb the spread of Covid-19 in Hong Kong
- A music festival next week has been axed with a loss of US$130,000, and a conductor warns international soloists and orchestras have given up on the city
The abrupt closure of performance venues as part of measures to stop the Omicron Covid-19 variant’s spread in Hong Kong has sent shock waves through the city’s embattled cultural sector.
Scores of concerts and live theatre performances at government-run venues have to be cancelled or rescheduled and musicians, some having just finished or about to finish three-week hotel quarantines required to enter Hong Kong, told they won’t get to perform after all.
Classical music concerts with a one- or two-day run are the worst affected among the 211 performances since there is little chance of rescheduling.
Hong Kong Sinfonietta principal guest conductor Christoph Poppen, who is quarantining ahead of a concert later this month, warned of lasting damage to the city’s performing arts scene.
“Blocking travel and performances on such a consistent level is very dangerous in the long run. Many soloists, not to mention orchestras, have given up on coming here,” he said.
