Please see below a note from David Burke, Chief Executive of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, regarding the LPO’s upcoming Ring Cycle.
I am writing with deep regret and heartfelt sadness to inform you that we have had to cancel our Wagner Ring Cycle, due to take place in January/February 2021. This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make, and one we have not made lightly. We explored every possible option in an effort to retain these much-anticipated performances in our programme but alas the continuing COVID-19 outbreak and public health restrictions have made it mean we have no choice.
With no signs of these restrictions lifting, we have had to accept that we cannot safely bring together the huge orchestral and vocal forces required to stage the Ring Cycle. Social distancing would also mean we could at the very best only have a very small audience which renders the project, which already requires significant financial investment from the Orchestra, unaffordable.
Finally, there would have been additional complications around the international artists involved, and potential quarantine measures that are regularly changing and evolving, making it impossible to plan with any of the certainty needed for a project on this scale.
We will programme Götterdämmerung at the earliest possibility, to complete the Orchestra’s first ever Ring Cycle with Maestro Jurowski. In the meantime, Jurowski is developing a typically inventive four-concert series, which will be recorded and broadcast internationally in the New Year. We will share more details of this project as it evolves.