London Philharmonic Orchestra Cancels Wagner's RING CYCLE

London Philharmonic Orchestra has announced the cancellation of Wagner's Ring Cycle.

Ticket holders will be contacted directly regarding the refunds process.

The orchestra will programme Götterdämmerung at the earliest opportunity, to complete the Orchestra's first ever Ring Cycle with Vladimir Jurowski.

Read the full statement from David Burke, Chief Executive of LPO below:

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 meant 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 accommodate 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.

All of us at the LPO are incredibly sorry to be giving this news to our audiences and to not be able to realise at this time this landmark project, which has been many years in the making.

We hope that you will enjoy our autumn season of concerts broadcast on Marquee TV which begins on Wednesday 30 September and we look forward to seeing you in person as soon as we are able to welcome back an audience to experience the joy of live orchestral music.

With sincere wishes,

David Burke
Chief Executive