(Credit: © Peter Mayr)

The Wiener Staatsoper has announced a cancellation of all the remaining performances of popular Johann Strauss’ operetta “Die Fledermaus” in January 2022, due to rising COVID-19 cases in the artistic groups.

The popular work was set to star Andreas Schager as Gabriel von Eisenstein, Rachel Willis-Sørensen in the role of Rosalinde, Wolfgang Bankl as Frank, Christina Bock in the role of Prinz Orlofsky, Vera-Lotte Boecker as Adele, Hiroshi Amako as Alfred, Johanna Wallroth as Ida, Clemens Unterreiner as Dr. Falke, Robert Bartneck as Dr. Blind, and Peter Simonischek as Frosch.

Bertrand de Billy was set to conduct a production by Otto Schenk, with set design by Günther Schneider-Siemssen.

Per the same release, the opera house canceled the performance of Puccini’s “Tosca” scheduled for Jan. 2, 2022. The opera was set to star Luciano Ganci as Mario Cavaradossi, Gevorg Hakobyan as Scarpia, and Malin Byström in the title role. Bertrand de Billy was set to conduct.

“The Wiener Staatsoper has been fighting with Corona for almost two years and has not canceled a single performance so far. This path has become more and more difficult in the past few weeks. More than 85 percent of the opera’s workforce has been vaccinated three times and is PCR tested at least three times a week. But the working conditions, especially among the artistic groups, playing, singing, dancing and making music together make a complete protection impossible. With the appearance of Omicron, the speed and intensity of the infection process has increased dramatically,” said the General Director of the Wiener Staatsoper Bogdan Roščić in an official press statement.

The cancellations at the Wiener Staatsoper are the latest in a series of ongoing performance cancellations caused by the global propagation of the new and aggressive SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. COVID-19 outbreaks have recently hit the Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro Real, Staatsoper Hamburg, Staatsoper Hannover, Opéra de Toulon, Opéra national du Rhin, Opéra Comique in Paris, and Oper Köln, which were all forced to cancel performances or bring cast changes. Theater Erfurt, Semperoper Dresden, and Oper Leipzig are currently closed due to the complex epidemiological situation.

The Wiener Staatsoper hopes that it will be able to restart its performances on Jan. 6 with the revival of Puccini’s “La Bohème.”