(Credit: Bern.com) The Swiss Federal Council has decided to remove cantonal exceptions and apply federal COVID-19 restriction measures universally across the whole country starting Jan. 9, 2021. Per the federal proposal, restaurants, bars, and cultural venues will remain closed throughout Switzerland until the end of February 2021. The Swiss Federal Council introduced new measures on Dec. 22, 2020 that were {…}
(Credit: Opéra National de Paris official website) The French Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot said that the government has no idea regarding the reopening of the cultural venues. “We understand that the culture sector is suffering,” said Bachelot. “Even in that case, it would be hazardous to reopen it, in the absence of the clear scientific evidence regarding the risk of {…}
(Credit: Bayerische Staatsoper official website) The German federal government and the Prime Ministers of the German federal states (Bund und Länder) have decided to extend the lockdown in Germany until the end of January 2021 at the earliest. Markus Söder, the Prime Minister of Bavaria, recently said in a statement to Bild am Sonntag that the country needs to be {…}
(Credit: University of London official website) UPDATE: The UK government has indicated that the lockdown is likely to remain in place into March at least, with some measures lasting even longer. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a national lockdown on England, in order to combat the new COVID-19 variant that has been spreading exponentially throughout the country despite harsh {…}
(Credits: Dario Acosta / Lourdes Balduque) The Royal Opera House Covent Garden has canceled the first part of its run of Puccini’s “Tosca” from Jan. 13 – Jan. 23 2021. The opera was set to star Anna Netrebko and Saioa Hernández alternating in the title role, Yusif Eyvazov and Yonghoon Lee in the role of Mario Cavaradossi, and Gerald Finley {…}
(Credit: Christian Thür) Austria has extended the nationwide lockdown until Jan. 24, 2020. The Austrian government originally planned to end the lockdown on Jan. 18 with mass COVID-19 testing. However, due to the parliamentary opposition parties’ stance announced on Jan. 3, there will be no possibility for the mass testing intended by the government. The original plan by the government {…}
(Credit: L’Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur / © Dominique Jaussein) UPDATE: Spokesman of the French government Gabriel Attal confirmed that cinemas, theaters and opera houses would not reopen on Jan. 7 2021. “There were several meetings with the Culture Ministry in the past week and we found that it will not be possible because the virus is circulating still too much,” {…}
(Credit: Københavns Kommune) The Government of Denmark has officially announced that it has extended its hard lockdown until Jan. 17, 2021, with additional strict new measures. Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that a more severe lockdown was required to bring the virus under control. “Let me say this very clearly, the situation with infections and hospitalizations is more serious {…}
(Credit: Klaus Frahm) Berlin’s largest opera house, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, has announced the cancelation of all performances until at least Jan. 10, 2021. However, the company anticipates that cancelations will be prolonged far beyond that point and on its official website, stated that it assumed that no performances could be offered until the end of February 2021. The Deutsche {…}
Credit: Basel.com The Swiss Federal Council has declared a new lockdown in Switzerland. Due to the new decision of the Swiss federal authorities, restaurants, bars, theaters, concert halls, and opera houses will be closed until at least Jan. 22, 2021. Major Swiss cultural institutions have already closed until the end of January or February 2021. However, as a result of {…}
(Credit: picture-alliance/dpa/ M. Merz) Wagner expert and pianist Stefan Mickisch has been banned from the famed Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth. Mickisch has been calling the COVID-19 restrictions brought on by German federal government and Prime Ministers of the German federal states “Corona fascism” on his Facebook private account. Most recently he compared himself in a Facebook post with the Nazi {…}