The Berlin State Opera has announced that members of the Staatskapelle Berlin and Danie Barenboim have collected money for freelance musicians and donated €30,000 to the emergency relief fund of the Deutsche Orchestervereinigung (German Orchestra Association).

In a statement the musicians and Barenboim noted, “We want to show our solidarity with the many freelance artists whose existence is pulled out from under their feet like a rug by the culture lockdown. We must go through this crisis together and show unity.”

The Berlin State Opera and Staatskapelle Berlin were forced to cancel the remainder of their 2019-20 seasons due to the coroanvirus outbreak. Chancellor Angela Merkel also announced that theaters and sporting events would be banned until August 31, 2020 due to the high risk these venues pose.

Germany currently has 153,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 5,500 deaths.