Opera Australia has announced another round of cancellations – bringing the number of performances that the company has cancelled or postponed in 2020 as a result of COVID-19 to more than 570.

The latest cancellations include the entire Sydney winter season, including the premiere of Davide Livermore’s digital production of Roberto Devereux – the second part in the Donizetti’s Tudor Queens trilogy that Livermore is staging for OA. Among other losses are the Australian premieres of the Tony Award-winning musical Light in the Piazza starring Renée Fleming and Alex Jennings, and a new production of Fiddler on the Roof, sung in Yiddish, which was to have been co-produced with John Frost and directed by Joel Grey.

The company has also postponed the premiere seasons of Rembrandt’s Wife, a new Australian opera by Andrew Ford and Sue Smith.

Nicole Car as Tatyana in OA’s production of Eugene Onegin. Photograph © Lisa Tomasetti

“These cancellations are devastating to an unparalleled degree for performers and audiences alike. It’s incredibly disappointing to be making these announcements, but the health and well-being of the extended OA community remains our highest priority, by complying with the restrictions mandated in suppressing the virus...