The slow process of returning to air travel post-lockdown has brought a lot of new rules and restrictions to airports. For many of us, even the thought of going through a busy airport under these new regulations will cause anxiety levels to shoot through the roof. In light of the increased stress for passengers, Germany’s Stuttgart Airport has creatively dedicated a calming space in an attempt to bring some peace and joy through live music.
Photo: Flughafen Stuttgart/Facebook
Germany’s Stuttgart Airport Is Offering One-on-One Classical Concerts
This spring, you can book a one-on-one concert in a designated area of the airport and have a classical musician serenade you as you sit six feet away from each other in a small, marked space. For those fortunate enough to experience this, it will be an opportunity of a lifetime to enjoy a personal performance by some of Germany’s top musicians.
“In times of crisis such as these, when cultural life comes to a complete standstill and disappears digitally behind the screens, the need for real personal contact and an analog shared musical experience grows,” the organizers shared online. “We offer you individual 1:1 concerts of ten minutes each: one listener and one musician — musical intimacy at a safe distance.”
The concept draws inspiration from 2019’s Volkenroda Summer Concerts, as well as artist Marina Abramović’s performance in The Artist is Present. In 2010, Abramović sat silently at a wooden table in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, locking eyes with whoever took the initiative to sit across from her to demonstrate altered perceptions of time through intense eye contact.
And that’s exactly what passengers will get — a profound musical journey with a lot of one-on-one eye contact. The airport concerts will be performed by members of the Stuttgart State Opera, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the SWR Symphony Orchestra. The socially distant concerts will take place above the InfoTurmStuttgart and can be booked online. 