The London Philharmonic Orchestra has canceled its upcoming Ring Cycle.

The orchestra announced that “Götterdämmerung” will be programmed at the earliest time possible in order to complete the Orchestra’s first-ever Ring Cycle with Maestro Vladimir Jurowski.

David Burke, Chief Executive of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, announced the news stating, “With deep regret and heartfelt sadness I must inform you that we have had to cancel our Wagner Ring Cycle, due to take place in January/February 2021. This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make, and one we have not made lightly. We explored every possible option in an effort to retain these much-anticipated performances in our program but alas the continuing COVID-19 outbreak and public health restrictions have made it  mean we have no choice.”

He continued, “With no signs of these restrictions lifting, we have had to accept that we cannot safely bring together the huge orchestral and vocal forces required to stage the Ring Cycle. Social distancing would also mean we could at the very best only have a very small audience which renders the project, which already requires significant financial investment from the Orchestra, unaffordable. Finally, there would have been additional complications around the international artists involved, and potential quarantine measures that are regularly changing and evolving, making it impossible to plan with any of the certainty needed for a project on this scale.”

The orchestra also noted that Jurowski is developing an inventive four-concert series that is set to be recorded and broadcast internationally in the New Year.