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.