Pittsburgh Festival Opera has announced that due to the COVID-19 crisis, it will be reimagining its entire festival.

First off, the company will move its two mainstage productions of “Pagliacci” and “Lysistrata” to the 2021 season. It’s other two productions of “Siegfried,” “Götterdämmerung,” and “Virgula Divina” will then get slotted into the fall 2020 timeframe.

Meanwhile all 2020 Second Stage events, including Daphne Alderson in Concert, “Rusalka: A Mermaid’s Tale,” and “The Drowning Boy’s Guide,” among others, will be canceled. The fundraiser gala “Gathering of the Goddesses” will also be postponed.

Meanwhile, the five-week summer intensive will continue though in an online format called “Online Young Artists Program.”

“Simply put, singers, directors, and pianists build and sustain careers through relationships. Nothing teaches us our craft like doing our craft. Opera has no life in a vacuum; it needs to be shared, and singers need to be heard to thrive. Visibility is vital! Through film, recordings, podcast interviews, social media, candid videos, and more, we hope to bring the community along with us in the lives of young artists and lead us into the time when they can meet and interact with the live audience once more,” stated Artistic Director Marianne Cornetti in a press statement.