(Credit: Martin Bubandt)

The Berlin Philharmonic has announced that due to the travel restrictions, General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin Sir Donald Runnicles will not be able to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in the online festival “The Golden Twenties” on February 20, 2021.

As a result, Thomas Søndergård, the Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra,  will conduct.

Thomas Søndergård recently conducted Puccini’s “Turandot” at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and Berlioz’s “Roméo et Juliette” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others.

Sir Donald Runnicles is scheduled to go back into the pit of the Deutsche Oper Berlin for the premiere of Wagner’s “Siegfried” in April 2021.