Philadelphia Orchestra cancels upcoming 50th-anniversary China tour

The Philadelphia Orchestra has scrapped its upcoming tour of China — concerned, it says, over COVID-19 protocols in the country that could have forced it to leave behind members of the orchestra.

The three-week tour planned for May with music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin was meant to be a celebration of the orchestra’s half-century presence in China. Its 1973 visit was the first by an American orchestra, and the ensemble has been back 12 times since — more than any other U.S. orchestra.

But COVID has become an impediment.

“It’s just not the time to go to China right now. There is too much uncertainty around COVID protocols,” said Matías Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of the orchestra and Kimmel Center. The orchestra’s concerns stem from the possibility that members of the touring party might test positive for COVID and have to remain in one place for weeks. “We can’t do that,” he said.

The cancellation puts a three-week hole in the orchestra’s concert schedule, while the organization is responsible for paying musicians year round. Plans for alternative programming both in Verizon Hall and elsewhere are in the works, Tarnopolsky said, but nothing is firm. Canceling China will mean a financial hit for the orchestra, but the exact impact isn’t yet known, he said.

Tarnopolsky declined to say whether the current state of Sino-American relations was a factor in the cancellation of the 50th anniversary tour.

“This was to have been an important moment, and we look forward to commemorating this milestone in the future. For us, we believe that through the Philadelphia Orchestra, greater understanding and connections between people can happen. And that’s been true since first visiting in 1973.”

COVID presented difficulties for the orchestra on its European festivals tour this summer — starting with the first stop. In Edinburgh, the orchestra was slated to perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and it was requested that the chorus don face masks. The singers refused, the piece was dropped, and Beethoven’s Fifth was performed instead.

Still, some ticket buyers were upset and the episode made international headlines.

“This is absolutely potty — how can a choir sing while masked?” asked one customer, quoted in The Telegraph.

A total of 11 members of the orchestra’s touring party — musicians, staff, family, and patrons — tested positive for COVID during the course of the 15-day tour.

“We learned a lot just now on this extraordinary European tour and found that our internal COVID protocols were largely effective,” Tarnopolsky said.

He added that the picture around orchestra touring is changing, though he pointed to concerns for the environment as the reason.

“We need to be very cognizant of our impact on the environment. Touring will continue to happen, but what we’d like to be able to do is more multi-concert residencies,” he said. More concerts in fewer cities means less travel and a lighter carbon footprint.

But Tarnopolsky doesn’t necessarily see COVID as having a permanent effect on the orchestra’s ability to tour, the China cancellation notwithstanding.

“I am incredibly impressed and inspired by the musicians of the orchestra and the way they were ready to be out there making music almost from day one of COVID, and that spirit is undimmed among the membership of the Philadelphia Orchestra.”