De Nationale Opera & Other Performing Arts Organizations Shut Down After New Government Regulations in Netherlands

By Dejan Vukosavljevic
(Credit: De Nationale Opera)

The Dutch government has announced new measures in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The number of cases of COVID-19 in Netherlands has soared in the past few weeks, prompting authorities to come up with a new battle plan.

In one of the sweeping new measures, authorities have limited music venues and theatres to a maximum of 30 visitors, thus essentially shutting down opera houses and concert halls. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte announced the new restrictions on Oct. 13, which will remain in place for at least two weeks.

Major opera houses and concert halls have issued statements regarding the new situation.

“The Dutch government announced stricter measures as a result of an increase in coronavirus cases in the country. No more than 30 people may now gather indoors. Much to our regret, we have thus decided to cancel all concerts up to and including 5 November,” said the Royal Concertgebouw in an official statement.

“Following the new measures taken by the central government to prevent further spread of the COVID-19, we had to decide that our Red sofa concert of Thursday, October 15, 2020 cannot take place,” said the Rotterdam Philharmonic in the statement.

De Nationale Opera stated that due to the stricter measures that were announced, it was forced to cancel all performances in the main auditorium until November 11, 2020.

The Dutch government will assess the new situation and the success of the new measures and decide on the next steps after the initial period of 2 weeks has passed.

 

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