The Metropolitan Opera has implemented a quarantine on singers arriving from high risk areas.

Diane Zola, Assistant General Manager of the Met, sent letters to artists arriving from Asia and Europe stating, “With the Coronavirus having reached New York, we have instituted travel policies for our employees that we wanted to share with you, since your artists will need to be bound by them, as well. This is part of our effort to keep our company healthy and safe. All Met employees and artists are required to be in self-imposed quarantine for a period of fourteen days upon arriving in New York from any one of the countries designated by the U.S. Center for Disease Control. These countries currently are China, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and Hong Kong.”

The letter also noted, “This may mean changing flight plans so that your artists arrive early enough to be able to begin rehearsals on time after the fourteen day period. Or, it may mean starting rehearsals later in order to conform to the fourteen day quarantine period. We do not plan on penalizing your artists financially for making these changes in their plans.”

The letter was first obtained by parterre. 

This month the Met opens a revival of “Tosca,” starring Anna Netrebko, “Werther” with Piotr Beczala and Joyce DiDonato,  and “La Cenerentola” with Javier Camarena and Tara Erraught.