The Arena di Verona has canceled its 2020 festival, moving its productions to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Foundation’s president Federico Sboarina and director Cecilia Gasdia announced the news noting that it will not be a silent 2020 and they will replace the season with a project entitled “Nel cuore della musica.” The project will consist of concerts during August and September weekends. The orchestra will perform alongside the chorus in the orchestra section and the audience will be reduced from 13,500 to 3,000 in order to ensure social distancing.

Gasdia announced that they are still finishing up the plans in order to comply with government protocols of sanitation.

Additionally, Sboarina also announced that the cancelation of the season will result in a 20 million Euro loss.

The 2020 programming was scheduled to open with a new production of “Pagliacci/Cavalleria Rusticana” by Gabriele Muccino, and was to include “Aida,” “Nabucco,” “La Traviata,” “Roberto Bolle and Friends” and a Beethoven gala. There were also galas scheduled for Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo, and Jonas Kaufmann.

Over the past days Italy has lifted restrictions and is entering phase one of reopening with the government slated to reopen salons, restaurants, malls and barber shops, among other nonessential business by June 1. However, the government has yet to announce when it will reopen theaters.