For a Dramatic Covid Recovery, Doctors Prescribe Opera Lessons

 For years, Suzi Zumpe has been training singers at London’s Royal Academy of Music — in person before the pandemic, and via Zoom ever since. Now, she’s teaching another group how to belt out flawless arias: former Covid patients whose doctors have prescribed singing as part of their recoveries.

E.N.O. Breathe was developed by the English National Opera in collaboration with a London hospital. It’s a six-week program in which professional singing tutors turn lung recovery exercises into vocal training regimens. Doctors can prescribe the program to their “long Covid cases” — patients whose recoveries take weeks or even months. By singing it out, patients can accelerate their recuperation from chest pains, fatigue and breathlessness. 

Currently expanding, the program’s goal is to assist 1,000 people. “Opera is rooted in breath,” the leader of the opera’s outreach told the New York Times. “That’s our expertise.”

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