A few days ago, the whole opera world was shocked by the death of the great Bulgarian tenor Kamen Chanev, who passed away in the prime of his life. "It was the last straw. This is a loss not only for Bulgaria, this is a loss for the worlf of operatic art. We decided that it was good to know the truth", says Bulgarian tenor Petar Kostov. Because of the risk of contracting the coronavirus to which everyone involved in opera is exposed, he has initiated a petition demanding that Bulgaria's opera singers be saved. So far, it has been signed by nearly 400 people.

"Leading names from all over the world, not only from Bulgaria, have signed the petition," the opera singer says in an interview with BNR. “We know that Bulgarian opera singers work in the big theatres around the world. We have the support and signatures of our famous colleagues from Japan, Croatia, USA, etc., as well as representatives of all Bulgarian theatres. Some don't want their names mentioned, but I get a lot of support in personal messages. The fact is that in our opera houses there was boundless creative enthusiasm, and there had to be a more conservative policy. Colleagues from the Berlin and Vienna Opera, for example, are no less hard-working than we are, but the necessary measures have been taken there. I keep in touch with colleagues from all opera houses in our country and I know that people are constantly getting infected. I am in contact with those who have survived the virus and it is very difficult for them to recover. None of them have yet said they are able to sing. There were festivals planned, even tours, and you know that singers and an orchestra move in big buses, which is unacceptable in this situation. Many problems were brewing, we were trying to consolidate our forces. "

Petar Kostov explains once again that an opera production involves hundreds of people. They are in the orchestra, on stage and behind it, it is impossible to keep distance during performances, it is impossible to use protective equipment, and it is known that singers and wind instrument performers use the greatest possible lung capacity, which makes the risk of infection even greater.

Here is part of the text of the petition, which is most often quoted by the Bulgarian media:

"In Bulgaria, unlike almost all of Europe, opera houses remained active and open. In addition, the performances were held in their entirety - with a full choir, orchestra and soloists, who can not use personal protective equipment during the performances, but to be honest also at large-scale rehearsals. All this led to many cases of coronavirus infection, especially among the choir and the wind instrumentalists in the orchestra. Since it is known that singing and playing a wind instrument takes in a significant amount of air, the possible concentration of the virus that this type of performers would take is many times higher than other artists. There are many studies, one of which by the British Ministry of Health, which unequivocally state that intense singing emits 20 times more aerosol droplets than normal speech. In addition, the virus released during singing remains virulent many times longer in a general environment of rehearsals and performances”, the petition reads.

Edited by Albena Bezovska