Dear Friends and Family,

We write to you today with an update from Pittsburgh Festival Opera regarding COVID-19. In adherence to our local and state officials and the most recent advice from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding all public events, we have altered our operations to make sure that our staff, board, artists and community are protected and that their health and safety are our primary concern.

The Opera Tots! program has been cancelled and Opera in the Schools performances will be postponed. All staff are working remotely, but you can still reach the team by phone or email, but email is better. All board and board committee meetings will continue to meet as planned, however they will all be conducted via conference call and video conference.

Plans for our Gathering of the Goddesses gala on June 20 and our Summer Festival season from July 11-26 are still moving forward, however we realize that this crisis remains uncertain. We are constantly monitoring developments.

Tickets for the summer season are currently on sale. We hope that you will plan to join us this summer after so much isolation and revel in the power of the human voice and the unifying force that is OPERA! To purchase tickets, please click HERE.

If you have already bought tickets for this summer’s exciting line-up of productions or if you purchase single tickets now in this period of uncertainty, PFO will provide you with options including donating your tickets back to Pittsburgh Festival Opera to help keep our doors open, or receive a refund if the times require it.

It’s a fact that singers, orchestral musicians, technical production specialists, designers, stagehands, vocal coaches, teachers and your neighbors in the arts are losing their livelihoods because of the COVID-19 virus and its necessary social restrictions. It’s also a fact that Pittsburgh Festival Opera and all local arts organizations rely primarily on individual donations to maintain operations. If you are able, please consider making a donation to Pittsburgh Festival Opera to sustain our operations during this difficult time. You can make a donation HERE.

We also ask you to reach out to your local, state, and federal representatives to request that arts organizations are included in any COVID-19 relief efforts. You can do that quickly and easily by clicking HERE.

We understand that this is a constantly evolving situation and we thank you in advance for your patience. All of us at Pittsburgh Festival Opera look forward to seeing you on the other side of this at our summer festival season, but in the meantime, please stay healthy and safe.

Sincerely,
Marianne Cornetti, Artistic Director
Dr. Eugene Myers, President, Board of Directors