(Credit: Lourdes Balduque)

L’Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in Belgium has announced the cancellation of Verdi’s rarely performed “I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata.”

The opera was set to star Saioa Hernández in the role of Giselda, Ramón Vargas as Oronte, Marco Ciaponi in the role of Arvino, Goderdzi Janelidze as Pagano, Virginie Léonard in the role of Viclinda, Luca Dall’Amico as Pirro, Roger Joakim in the role of Acciano, and Caroline De Mahieu as Sofia.

The production was set to be presented between April 13 and April 24, 2021 and conducted by Daniel Oren. The production was by the late Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera.

L’Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège has been closed since the beginning of the pandemic and has only managed to stage and perform Puccini’s “La Bohème” with Angela Gheorghiu in September and October 2020.

Belgium is undergoing an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis, with the government imposing strict restriction measures in order to curb the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 and its novel variants. The country logged 3,165 new COVID-19 cases on March 16, 2021.