(Credit: Staatsoper Stuttgart official website)

The Staatsoper Stuttgart has announced that it will remain closed until at least May 1, 2021.

The opera house stated that the decision was made by the Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts together with the two state theaters of the State of Baden-Württemberg. The resumption of performances in April does not seem feasible at the moment, added the opera house.

The Staatsoper Stuttgart announced a very ambitious reopening plan in January 2021. However, the latest closure extension decision leaves room for only two operas to be performed in May and June 2021, if the epidemiological situation allows.

“The rising case numbers may mean that we are unable to take any further steps towards opening up in the weeks to come. On the contrary, we may even have to take steps backwards,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn on March 19. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the country must not hesitate in imposing the new lockdown.

Germany is undergoing an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The Robert Koch Institute and the Charité hospital in Berlin warned that the country could see a large third wave of the disease, driven by the novel SARS-CoV-2 variants. The 7-day incidence in Germany rose to 100 on March 20, 2021, thus hitting the emergency brakes set by the German federal government. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Ministers of German federal states will meet on March 22 to discuss the current epidemiological situation in the country.