(Credit: Valeri Guérguiev)

The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced that Valery Gergiev will not conduct the performances of Wagner‘s “Das Rheingold” on June 30 and July 3, 2021.

No immediate reason was given for the cancellation. However, current arrivals from Russian Federation to Germany have been banned except for the German nationals and residents due to the explosive spread of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus in Russia.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute designated the Russian Federation as a virus variant area on June 25, 2021, which prompted the German federal government to allow entry only to German residents who must undergo a 14-day quarantine without exceptions.

As a result, Erik Nielsen and Patrick Lange will take over in the pit on June 30 and July 3, 2021 respectively. Nielsen and Lange will lead a cast that includes John Lundgren, Milan Siljanov, Matthew Newlin, Benjamin Bruns, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Christof Fischesser, Ain Anger, Daniela Sindram, Mirjam Mesak, Judit Kutasi, Eliza Boom, Samantha Hankey, and Nadine Weissmann.

Gergiev is set to conduct Delibes’ “Lakmé” and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” at the Mariinsky Theatre on July 4, 2021.