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Dear friends,

Im sure this is a difficult time for you and your family and loved ones. Our priority is our responsibility to look after the artists and other freelancers who form part of the ETO family. Coronavirus, and our decision to cancel the remaining 52 performances of our current tour will have a heavy impact on all 67 of them and their families. We believe we must not let those freelancers, many of whom can least afford it, to bear the brunt of that impact. We have made this commitment to them at great cost to the company and hope that youll agree that its the right thing to do.

We also have a responsibility to you, our audiences throughout the UK. We know that music brings people together and thats more important now than ever. We have the brightest creative minds on this and our family of artists have signalled that they ready to help us to deliver our ideas to you and others. Expect listening projects, conductors commentaries, interactive discussions that you can contribute to, performances-from-home and a whole lot more. If you can help us by making a gift today you will be directly supporting musicians through the COVID-19 pandemic and our ambition to keep music in all of our lives in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your support and fellowship. Our thoughts are with you and your community of friends and family, and we look forward to welcoming you to an opera again soon.

English Touring Opera's statement in full

Dear friends,

The safety and security of our artists, audiences and staff is what matters most to English Touring Opera. For this reason, we have taken the decision to cancel all 52 remaining performances of our Spring 2020 tour, following the Governments recommendations regarding non-essential travel and socialising, unless there comes a time when it is safe and practical to reopen.

We are committed to supporting our freelance artists as well as our technical and production staff in the challenging times ahead. We will be paying our 67 freelancers their fees for the full tour, all the way to what would have been the final scheduled performance on 27 June.

Our venue partners will be in touch with anyone who holds a ticket to one of our cancelled performances.

We are all heartbroken to cancel this tour, with productions of which we are so very proud. The financial implications for ETO of cancelling such a substantial tour are severe, but with the support of our loyal audiences, we will continue to produce the best opera we can for communities across the country long into the future.

During this period of closure, we will be developing creative ways of continuing to bring music to you, wherever you are, because that matters to us. Please sign up to our newsletter, keep an eye on our website and social media channels to find our more.

If you can help us by donating the value of your tickets this season, or perhaps a larger gift, you will be directly supporting musicians through the COVID-19 pandemic and our ambition to keep music in all of our lives in the coming weeks. You can do so by visiting englishtouringopera.org.uk .

Thank you for your support and fellowship. Our thoughts are with you and your community of friends and family, and we look forward to welcoming you to an opera again soon,

James Conway

Artistic Director, English Touring Opera