Opera North has announced that will be postponing all productions which were due to tour in the Autumn 2020 and Winter 2021 season. Instead, the company will be devising and curating an assortment of digital events, as well as live musical performances in accordance with health regulations in the U.K.

Among the first of these events will be what is described as an interactive outdoor soundwalk in the city of Leeds, where participants will be able to walk on a route through the city while enjoying a new score to be composed and recorded by the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North.

While details for the new events of autumn and winter will be announced in the upcoming weeks, Opera North has stated that its new concert staging of Wagner’s “Parsifal” remains on schedule to be performed on tour in the Spring of 2021.

In a statement on its website, Opera North General Director Richard Mantle wrote, “We have continued to monitor the UK Government’s advice on social gatherings and the guidelines applicable to performing companies, theatres, and public venues. It is now evident that it is no longer possible for Opera North to produce, rehearse and tour these large-scale productions as originally planned… We remain committed to making live music and creating extraordinary experiences, every day, for and with the communities we serve. Live or digitally, in classrooms, theatres, concert halls, homes, and public spaces; we will continue to share music with people of all ages and backgrounds.”