Sacred Music in The Time of Coronavirus
And foie gras for breakfast. For me, a summer in the south of France without classical music is a summer without zest. My atypical 2020 summer needed even more classical music than usual to reduce my Covid-19 stress level. Sadly, but expected, most of the region’s music festivals had been cancelled and it was mission impossible to find tickets for the still maintained festivals like the famous piano Festival of la Roque d Anth é ron in Provence. Out of desperation, I joined a four- day-music tour and drove five hours to the village of Rocamadour to join the small music-loving group. For the love of sacred music, I exposed myself to possible Covid contamination as I anticipated the village to be overrun by the August tourist hordes. August is the climax of the tourism season in France. But Rocamadour appealed to me: Although one of the most visited sites in France, I had never traveled to this cliff hanging medieval village located in Occitan...