Almost every day, we receive press releases about classical music, opera, ballet and dance events that have been cancelled or postponed, as well as some that have moved from live to online or have been created from scratch as virtual events. We don't have time to keep track of every listing in detail in the event finder – the details are changing too quickly for us to keep up – but we'll keep updating this page as and when news reaches us.
--Thursday 29 April--
French President Macron announces that concert halls will be permitted to reopen on May 19th with a maximum of 800 people. From June 9th 5,000 spectators with a "sanitary pass" (unspecified what that is) will be allowed and on June 30th the lockdown will end for everyone with a sanitary pass.
--Monday 26 April--
From May 6th, audiences of up to 200 people will return to the RAI Auditorium in Turin.
Opernhaus Zürich will open again to a limited audience of 50 people from May 1st. Tickets go on sale today.
Philharmonia Orchestra will perform live at the Southbank Centre in a socially distanced format on June 4th and 10th. These are their first live concerts since March 2020 and will be the final concerts for Esa-Pekka Salonen as Principal Conductor.
--Saturday 24th April--
From tomorrow, 25th April, Tokyo has declared a stricter "State of Emergency" and has requested all venues and orchestras to close.
--Friday 23rd April--
From 19th May, theatres, opera houses and concert halls in Austria are allowed to reopen to 50% capacity audiences. Wiener Staatsoper is permitted an audience of 940 people.
--Thursday 22 April --
London Symphony Orchestra announced concerts with socially distanced audiences at the Barbican starting on 18th May.
--Tuesday 14th April--
On Monday 19th April Rotterdam Philharmonic will take part in the Netherlands testing effort to test the logistics of safely managing a crowd of 450 concert goers on the streets surrounding the Concert Hall and in De Doelen building itself.
--Friday 9th April--
LA Philharmonic announces the reopening of its outdoor venue for the 2021 season - the Hollywood Bowl will present 14 weeks of concerts starting in July.
--Wednesday 7th April--
The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam announces a series of three pilot concerts from 16 - 18 April with full testing of audience and musicians. They've been closed for 6 months.
--Monday 14th December--
Tonhalle Zürich announces to stay closed until the end of February.
--Friday 11th December--
France extends lockdown until 7th January.
Opernhaus Zürich cancels all performances until the end of January.
Seattle Symphony to extend suspension of concert production through 8th January 2021.
--Thursday 10th December--
Salzburg Festival announces its 2021 programme.
--Monday 30th November--
Kings Place announces a return to performances starting on 6th December.
--Wednesday 25th November--
Opéra National de Paris announce that performances will resume on Tuesday 15th December: productions at Opéra Bastille include La Bayadère, La Traviata and Carmen.
Garsington Opera announce dates for their 2021 season, to include Der Rosenkavalier, Eugene Onegin, Amadigi and Le Comte Ory.
--Thursday 5th November--
Opera Australia announce their forthcoming return to Sydney Opera House, starting on 5th January 2021 with The Merry Widow.
--Tuesday 3rd November--
Houston Grand Opera announces cancellation of remaining 2020–21 mainstage operas and replaces in-person performances with extended digital season.
--Saturday 31st October--
Austria cancels all performances from 3rd to 30th November.
England announces new restrictions and closes venues from 5th November until 2nd December.
--Thursday 30th October--
Spain: Regions in Spain have closed their borders in order to limit movement. Venues have reduced their capacities to 50% or 40%. In the case of Cataluña, the region has stopped all but essential activities and theatres and venues will be closed until November 13th. Gran Teatre del Liceu has cancelled its events programmed until November 24th.
--Thursday 29th October--
Carnegie Hall cancels all events through 5th April 2021.
--Wednesday 28th October--
Germany: Due to new restrictions all theatres, concert halls and opera houses will be closed from Monday 2nd November until the end of November.
France: All public gatherings are forbidden and performances are cancelled from Friday 30th October until 1st December.
Switzerland limits the audience size to 50 which forces Tonhalle Zürich, Opernhaus Zürich and other houses to suspend all performances until further notice.
--Thursday 22nd October--
Lyric Opera of Chicago has made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the 2020/21 season. The company had previously canceled performances through the end of calendar year 2020.
--Monday 19th October--
Latvian National Opera announces cancellation of all live performances until the 1st of November.
--Thursday 8th October--
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra brings live music back to Birmingham as CBSO Centre reopens for series of Friday concerts.
-- Wednesday 30th September --
Opera North announces new events for autumn.
-- Friday 25th September --
Scottish Chamber Orchestra announces streamed performances for October.
Riga Jurmala Music Festival announces 2021 programme, featuring four weekends with four different orchestras (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra).
-- Thursday 24th September --
Lyric Opera of Chicago announces reimagined programs for the new season.
Barbican announces Live at Lunchtime – a series of free foyer concerts, featuring musicians from Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
-- Wednesday 23rd September --
Met Opera announces cancellation of whole 2020-21 season, announces 2021-22 season.
-- Thursday 17th September --
Philharmonia Orchestra announces autumn programme of livestreamed concerts from 26th October to 30th November.
London Philharmonic Orchestra announces the cancellation of its January 2021 Ring cycle.
-- Wednesday 16th September --
Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu announce the opening of their new season on 20th September, with concerts at the Liceu itself and at the Abbey of Montserrat.
-- Thursday 10th September --
Wiener Staatsoper announce that starting with their 2020/21 season, live performances will be streamed free of charge on their website.
-- Tuesday 8th September --
The Barbican announces the line-up for its new autumn concert series, accessible for a reduced, socially distanced live audience in the Barbican Hall and online for a global digital audience through a livestream.
-- Friday 4th September --
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra announces the introduction of CSO Sessions, a new digital series of on-demand video recordings of chamber music concerts featuring performances by CSO musicians filmed in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, premiering on 1st October.
-- Thursday 3rd September --
Southbank Centre announces “Inside Out”, a 3-month series of multi-arts events broadcast from the Royal Festival Hall and beyond this Autumn
London Philharmonic Orchestra returns to Royal Festival Hall to give 13 concerts for its Autumn 2020 season.
Philharmonia Orchestra announces new online and broadcast concerts at Southbank Centre, opening on 26th October.
-- Tuesday 1st September --
Seattle Symphony launches 2020-21 season with new streaming service, Seattle Symphony Live, starting on 19th September.
-- Monday 31st August --
Glyndebourne announced indoor musical performances from 10th October, including Offenbach’s In the Market for Love, a semi-staged version of The Magic Flute and Christmas Concerts.
-- Friday 28th August --
The English Chamber Orchestra presents “Teatime Music”, a series of four weekly afternoon tea concerts streamed online, starting on Sunday 13th September.
-- Thursday 27th August --
London Symphony Orchestra begins rehearsing, performing and recording at LSO St Luke’s a new Autumn Season. Thirteen new concerts are scheduled to be played and recorded each week.
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic announces 14 one-hour, socially-distanced concerts at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall from 1st October to 4th November. Concerts will be available to purchase and watch online as part of the new Royal Liverpool Philharmonic On Demand offering.
Seattle Opera unveils virtual fall season.
-- Tuesday 25th August --
Aurora Orchestra announces its Autumn 2020 season, which sees a return to live performance at its Kings Place home.
Kings Place announces its Autumn season from 31st August to 12th December.
Kungliga Operan, the Royal Swedish Opera, opens the season with two world premieres on 26th September.
-- Monday 24th August --
Royal Opera House announces Autumn Opera and Ballet Concerts, streamed live from Covent Garden.
Cadogan Hall is resuming live indoor performances with socially distanced audiences from 30th September.
Scottish Opera reveals a programme of outdoor performances, including a special production of Puccini’s La bohème and Pop-up Opera performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and a new work, The Song of the Clyde, by Scottish composer Karen MacIver.
-- Thursday 20th August --
The Royal Academy of Music announces that their entire Autumn season of over 60 concerts will be streamed live for free.
The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal unveils its fall programming. The concerts begin on 11th September, many of which will be available in digital format.
Dutch National Opera and Ballet announce amended Autumn Season.
-- Wednesday 19th August --
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its first ever concert with a performance, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, at a production warehouse in Birmingham. The concert will be streamed on the CBSO's Youtube channel.
-- Tuesday 18th August --
Wigmore Hall and Director John Gilhooly confirm 100 concerts for newly revised programme from 13th September to 21st December.
Pacific Northwest Ballet announces an all-online 2020-21 season.
-- Friday 14th August --
The Concertgebouw presents an amended Autumn season with more than 200 concerts.
Snape Maltings Concert Hall announces to reopen for live performances with audience from 21st August.
-- Thursday 13th August --
Opera Australia announces new dates for Brisbane Ring Cycle: October - November 2021.
-- Wednesday 12th August --
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra announces 12 symphonic concerts to be streamed live online this autumn.
-- Thursday 6th August --
Guildhall School of Music & Drama announces free digital autumn events season.
-- Wednesday 5th August --
Hungarian State Opera announce the re-opening of the Eiffel Art Studios with a gala concert on 19th August featuring guest star Jonas Kaufmann.
-- Tuesday 4th August --
Deutsche Oper am Rhein announces schedule for September and October.
-- Monday 3rd August --
Edinburgh International Festival announces this summer's programme of original digital content.
-- Friday 31st July --
Houston Symphony announces four live streamed programmes for August under the banner "Live from Jones Hall".
-- Thursday 30th July --
Opera Philadelphia announces the launch of a digital opera channel and digital operatic premieres throughout the season.
Boston Symphony Orchestra cancels its autumn season (16th September to 28th November) and announces to create and distribute new online content.
The Grange Festival presents Precipice, an outdoor promenade performance in late August.
Greek National Opera announces fully staged live performances from October to December.
-- Wednesday 29th July --
Opera Australia announces it will postpone the premiere of its fully digital Ring Cycle to 2021, originally scheduled to open in November this year.
-- Tuesday 28th July --
Garsington Opera announces four semi-staged performances of Beethoven's Fidelio to take place in September.
Suntory Hall announce a modified programme for their Summer Festival for August 22nd to 30th.
Stuttgart Ballet announces first half of 2020-21 season.
-- Monday 27th July --
Teatro alla Scala announces a new programme for autumn 2020.
-- Thursday 23rd July --
Glyndebourne Festival announces new titles for Glyndebourne Open House through to 2nd August.
-- Monday 20th July --
Bavarian Radio Symphony announce that all programmes scheduled to take place from September to December will be announced on 1st September.
-- Friday 17th July --
The Barbican announces that all planned autumn 2020 concert from 1st September to 14th December have been cancelled.
-- Thursday 16th July --
Chicago Symphony Orchestra announce that all programmes scheduled to take place from 17th September to 23rd December have been cancelled.
-- Monday 13th July --
Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall announce to be closed to the public until the end of the year.
Philharmonia Orchestra announces that all live concerts up to December 2020 are cancelled.
-- Monday 6th July --
Toronto Symphony Orchestra cancels all concerts in its 2020/21 season, replacing them by "redesigned concerts and programs in communities across the GTA".
-- Thursday 25th June --
Komische Oper Berlin announces an amended programme for September to December.
-- Wednesday 24th June --
Bayerische Staatsoper announces an amended programme for its autumn season.
-- Tuesday 9th June --
Salzburg Festival announces details of amended summer programme, including two fully staged operas, Così fan tutte and Elektra.
-- Monday 1st June --
The Metropolitan Opera cancels the first few months of its 2020-21 season and announces to reopen with a special gala performance on 31st December 2020.
Last updated on 30 April 2021
