Vienna’s musicians find their voice after months of silence

Classical musicians in Vienna are preparing to return to live performances after long months without audiences which have severely tested their motivation and, for some, even thrown their careers into question.

They are dusting off their instruments after Austria's easing of coronavirus restrictions allowed cultural venues to open their doors again on May 19.

Singers' agent Laurent Delage likens the challenge facing the musicians to "elite athletes who have to fire up the machine again" after a period of inactivity.

In the ornate Golden Hall of the Musikverein, considered one of the world's finest concert halls and home to a world-famous New Year's concert, one of those "athletes" is French bassoonist Sophie Dervaux.

She is rehearsing a symphony by Gustav Mahler and is keen to perform in front of a live audience again for the first time since the orchestra went on tour to Japan last November.

"We weren't expecting this to last virtually 200 days," 29-year-old Dervaux told AFP.

After this week's concerts in Vienna, she has performances in Denmark and Norway to look forward to as travel in Europe tentatively opens up.

Dervaux joined the Vienna Philharmonic six years ago, an appointment which she can hold for life.

But she admitted she had gone through "very, very difficult periods" during the pandemic.

"I asked myself: 'Why work, why practise scales if I don't have any concerts?'"

After putting her bassoon to one side for a while, she eventually managed to find some alternative projects - particularly making records - to keep her spirits up and stop herself from getting rusty.

Daniel Froschauer, first violinist and chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic, says that streamed concerts during...