IN response to the COVID-19 crisis Opera North has made the decision to cancel or postpone all public facing activity until at least the end of April.

A spokesman said: “We have also confirmed the postponement of our co-production of A Little Night Music with Leeds Playhouse, which was due to open on 9 May. Our immediate priority is the health and safety of our audiences, artists and staff, and we hope to be able to mount the production in a future season.”

Richard Mantle, General Director, Opera North, said: “This is undoubtedly a time of great challenge for Opera North and our peers but we are determined to respond with creativity and resilience. We will honour the contracts of all guest artists to the end of our current main stage opera season and those of guest orchestral players until the end of April. We are working with our many education and community partners to ascertain what work can still be delivered in those settings, and will focus our creativity and core resources on finding new ways of using music and opera to enhance people’s lives. In these uncertain times it feels more important than ever that we use music to connect with each other.”

A spokesperson added: “We remain hopeful that our 20-21 season will go ahead as planned in September. In the meantime, we are working on finding other ways to share our art form with our audiences. Some online resources available now:

Our recent livestream of The Turn of the Screw is available via OperaVision:

https://operavision.eu/en/library/performances/operas/turn-screw-opera-north

The full Opera North Ring Cycle is available via our website:

https://www.operanorth.co.uk/the-ring-cycle/

Our 2017 production of Trouble in Tahiti is available via Now TV and Sky on-demand services.

For updated information about event cancellations and postponements, please visit:

https://www.operanorth.co.uk/news/coronavirus-covid-19-update/