Günther Groissböck was about to walk onstage at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre for the first act of a new “Lohengrin” production last winter when his wife, Isabel, texted that she and their 12-year-old daughter were about to take off on a flight home to Milan.
“Then she texted me back and said, no, the pilot just announced we are not allowed anymore to enter European airspace,” the Austrian bass recalled. “And then they were trapped because they only had the one entry visa.”
