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Opera Makes a Strange Comeback: No Touching, N95s for the Chorus

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Last month, Italian director Damiano Michieletto reopened the season at U.K.’s Glyndebourne opera house with a performance of “Kat’a Kabanova,” a tragic tale about a lonely wife drawn into a passionate affair.

In a pivotal scene, the heroine Kat’a and her love interest Boris are supposed to kiss.

But social distancing rules requiring a 6.5-foot distance between performers, which are now common in many European operas, forced Mr. Michieletto to get creative. “How do you kiss the distance?” he said.

His solution: feathers.

During the scene, white feathers fell from above, which the singers then embraced and exchanged, without touching each other. “You have to find such metaphors to create a moment of tenderness, of intimacy, of love. But without any physical contact,” Mr. Michieletto said.

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