Vienna cancels China and Korea tour

Message received from Marin Alsop’s orchestra:

The ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna was meant to tour South Korea and China from March 10th to 21st.

The tour with the Finnish conductor John Storgårds has now been cancelled. The reason for this is the spread of the coronavirus in China, which also has an adverse effect on cultural life in South Korea.

At the beginning of February, the two concerts planned in China were canceled by the organizer, a week later one of the organizers withdrew from Korea. The remaining concerts in Korea can no longer be performed by the orchestra. Orchestra director Christoph Becher: “We are extremely sorry about this, we were all really looking forward to this tour. But of course we have to protect the health of our musicians, that’s the top priority. As things stand today, it is also completely unclear how the flight situation in Asia will develop and when concert life in Korea, which is already suffering from impairments and cancellations, will recover.