New York,(ONA) - The Metropolitan Opera House canceled its offers for the autumn of 2020 and postponed many new performances for future seasons due to the continued spread of the coronavirus and its disruption to cultural life in New York.

The house, which has been closed since mid-March due to the health crisis, indicated that it is still planning to hold a short season that starts on December 31 instead of September.

“Given the huge organizational complexity of the opera schedule, we have no choice but to cancel the fall season,” Peter Gelb, the company’s general manager, said in an interview. “The health and safety of workers and the public is one of the house's top priorities. Simply, it is not possible for the house to open the season in September while remaining social divergence imposed.”

He pointed out that this decision of the opera means that neither the new production “Aida” by Verdi which was supposed to open the season nor the premiere of “The Fire Angel” by Prokofiev will not be shown.

The house pointed out that these two new productions will be shown in the coming seasons. In addition, the "Metropolitan" will postpone the presentation of two new production of Mozart's works, “The Magic Flute” and “Don Jovani” until the 2020-2021 season.

(ONA)