(Credit: Bayerische Staatsoper official website)

The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced the cancellation of its performance of Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” on April 3, and a presentations of Verdi’s “La Traviata” on April 9, 11 & 15, 2021.

Per an official statement on the company’s website, the opera house was forced to cancel the performances due to the worsened epidemiological situation and new restrictions imposed by the German federal government and Prime Ministers of German federal states.

The Bayerische Staatsoper live streamed the production of “Der Rosenkavalier” on March 21. The presentation on April 3 was supposed to star Marlis Petersen, Christof Fischesser, Samantha Hankey, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Katharina Konradi, Daniela Köhler, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Ursula Hesse von den Steinen, Martin Snell, Manuel Günther, Caspar Singh, Christian Rieger, Galeano Salas, Eliza Boom, and George Vîrban. Vladimir Jurowski was set to conduct the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in a production by Barrie Kosky.

“La Traviata” was set to showcase Rosa Feola, Frédéric Antoun, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Daria Proszek, Corinna Scheurle, Caspar Singh, Milan Siljanov, Andrew Hamilton, Bálint Szabó, Andres Agudelo, Theodore Platt, and Christian Valle. Andrea Battistoni was signed on to conduct the production by Günter Krämer.

Germany is undergoing an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The Robert Koch Institute and the Charité hospital in Berlin warned that the country could see a large third wave of the disease, driven by the novel SARS-CoV-2 variants. The 7-day incidence in Germany currently stands at 113.