(Credit: Sven Helge Czichy)

The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden has announced that it will remain closed until at least June 2021 due to the current epidemiological situation in Germany.

“Performances will be canceled in all the state theaters of the federal state of Hessen,” said the opera house in the statement on its official website. The opera house also stated that the possible performance plan for June 2021 would be communicated to the public at a later date if the epidemiological situation allowed.

The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden thus joins Berlin opera houses, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Hamburg, Staatstheater Cottbus and the Semperoper Dresden in extending closures until June.

German Parliament has adopted changes to the Infection Protection Act, providing the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s federal government the power to impose stricter COVID-19 measures without consultation of the federal states. Large parts of Germany are deeply in the red zone with the 7-day incidence rate above the threshold value of 100, and thus must go into lockdown.

Cultural venues and leisure facilities must stay closed until the seven-day incidence rate drops below 100 for five consecutive days. The new law thus adds to the greater uncertainty over any prospective reopening.

The current 7-day incidence in Wiesbaden stands at 165.9.