后疫情时代的歌剧（六）

Joanna C.Lee

小瓊：这个月我依然待在纽约市，今年开春疫情暴发以来我就没有离开过这里。这些日子里我一直在网上看歌剧、听音乐会，可我真希望什么时候能再看到现场演出。那是无可替代的体验。

小薇：现在全中国各地都有很多现场演出，可惜你不能来跟我们一起看啊！

小琼：我觉得我还是相当幸运了——继几个月前欣赏了高男高音安东尼·罗斯·科斯坦佐参与的纽约爱乐乐团的乐队花车现场表演，在圣诞季刚刚开始的近日又遇上一场大都会歌剧院合唱团的户外现场演出。一个寒冷的早晨，我正路过大都会艺术博物馆（该馆9月起以25%的容量重新开始接待参观者），突然一场快闪音乐会开始了！

小薇：我看到新闻报道说有20多位大都会歌剧院的歌手站在标志性的大都会艺术博物馆门前，唱了三首节日歌曲：“圣诞钟声”“冬季仙境”及“哈利路亚”（最后一首出自亨德尔的《弥赛亚》）。这是自继3月大都会歌剧院关门、合唱团停工以来，合唱团的首次重聚演出。

小琼：当时的场面令人心动。推着婴儿车的一家子、路过的车辆、遛狗的人，甚至连街边卖热狗的小贩都很兴奋。在这次活动上，我第一次知道了“纽约市未来”这个组织。这个已有百名成员的志愿组织先前就策划过其他的一些现场活动：10月7日，百老汇歌手们在时代广场也进行了类似的合唱活动，当时他们演唱了斯蒂芬·桑德海姆的音乐剧《星期天与乔治同游公园》中的主题曲。

小薇：同一篇报道中还引用了“纽约市未来”组织创始人玛丽安·巴尼卡里姆的话来解释这一草根组织的短暂历史：“我们明白，现在是这座城市的困难时期。但我们也知道纽约具有非常强大的自我恢复能力。通过这些活动，我们希望把纽约人动员起来，一起建设明天的纽约。”这一团体体现出了令人印象深刻的组织能力，不仅是在协调演职人员、技术人员方面，甚至连媒体的到场时间地点都安排得细致周到。

小琼：为了保证大家安全，“纽约市未来”从来不在活动开始之前做任何宣传，以避免拥挤的人群出现，另外还可以给人带来几分惊喜。很多有幸遇上演出的人都会把照片和视频发到社交媒体上。

Joan： Im still in New York City， a place Ive remained since the pandemic broke out in the spring. I spend so much time these days watching operas and concerts online， but I do long to attend live performances again. These are irreplaceable experiences.

Valery： In China， we have lots of live performances all over the country， but alas， its hard for you to join us at this moment！

Joan： I consider myself pretty lucky—apart from enjoying the New York Philharmonic Bandwagon with countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo a few months ago， I just caught a live， outdoor performance of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus at the start of the Christmas season. One cold morning， I was walking by the Metropolitan Museum of Art （which reopened in September， welcoming visitors at 25% of capacity） when a pop-up concert took place！

Valery： I saw news reports that around two dozen singers of the Metropolitan Opera stood at the iconic Metropolitan Museum steps and sang three holiday songs： “Carol of the Bells，” “Winter Wonderland，” and the “Hallelujah Chorus”from Handels Messiah. The chorus members hadnt met and performed together since March， when the Met Opera closed and their jobs were furloughed.

Joan： It was a heartfelt affair！ Families with children in strollers， cars driving by， dogwalkers， even the hot dog vendors on the street were excited. I didnt know about the organization NYCNext until this event. This purely voluntary organization thats now 100-strong has already presented other live events： Broadway singers did a similar event at Times Square on October 7， when they sang “Sunday” from Stephen Sondheims Sunday in the Park with George.

Valery： The same news article also quoted NYCNext founder Maryam Banikarim explaining the short history of this grassroots organization： “We recognize that this is a difficult time for the city， but we also know that New York is incredibly resilient. With these shared moments， we aim to mobilize New Yorkers to help build the next New York.” Im impressed at this groups organization in coordinating performers as well as technical staff， even making sure the press arrives at the right time in the right place.

Joan： And to ensure everyone is safe， NYCNext never advertises events until when they happen， so theres no crowd and always an element of surprise. And the lucky people who catch them post their photos and videos on social media.