Voiceless? Classical Singers and COVID-19

Classical singers are part of a fragile ecosystem of live music performance that is currently in deep-freeze during the current Covid-19 crisis, and that will likely suffer long-term damage as social-distancing measures and audiences' fear of crowds inhibit attendance at live performances for years to come. This two-year study will examine both short-term and long-term effects of Covid-19 on the creative and socio-cultural well-being of this discrete cohort of performers. Core data and analysis will be generated from individual interviews and focus group sessions with twenty professional singers of classical music from five countries in Europe and America, followed by a response-driven questionnaire of a wider sample of singers from the same countries. An important objective of the study is informing policymakers at both national and international levels, in order to ensure the well-being of this endangered classical music ecosystem and to give a voice to the artists sustaining it.