The Metropolitan Opera Cancels 2020-2021 Season

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Metropolitan Opera has announced that the company has canceled its 2020-2021 season. The plan will keep the opera house dark until next September. The Met had previously canceled its 2019-2020 season.

"Because of the many hundreds of performers who are required to rehearse and perform in close quarters and because of the company’s large audience, it was determined that it would not be safe for the Met to resume until a vaccine is widely in use, herd immunity is established and the wearing of masks and social distancing is no longer a medical requirement," read a statement on the organization's website. "Health officials have said this will likely take at least five to six months after a vaccine is initially made available. We want nothing more than to get back to creating operatic magic as only the Met can, but the safety of our company and the audience we serve must come first."

The Met revealed plans for its 2021-2022 season, which will include the Met premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut up in My Bones, the first opera by a Black composer to be performed there. The full season will also include mountings of Hamlet, Madama Butterfly, Porgy and Bess and more.