Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Virginia Opera has announced that it will be revising its 2020- 21 season.

Originally slated to open in October, the company will now be aiming for a February opening date.

While some of the organization’s upcoming productions have been pushed back, such as “The Pirates of Penzance” being moved from November to April 2021, others, such as “Rigoletto,” will be canceled altogether.

As a result of the precarious financial position of performing arts companies at this time, Virginia Opera has chosen to replace its production of “Cold Mountain” with a double bill comprised of Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine,” and Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.”  The company has emphasized that it will only move forward with its season if the health regulations in place at the time permit them to do so.

In a statement, the company wrote: “Opera is, at its core, a collaborative enterprise of humanity on a massive scale – and that collaboration takes time to assemble. Our artists onstage, our musicians in the orchestra pit, and our assembled audiences in each house, in combination, produce its thrilling experience—these are all at this moment threatened by the virus. The pandemic has forced us to acknowledge the realities and do what is best for all—that reality can be nothing but adjusting and re-imagining plans for the 2020-2021 Season.”