Carnegie Hall Cancels Remainder of Its 2019-2020 Season

All Carnegie Hall performances through Saturday, July 25, 2020 have now been cancelled. In addition, free Carnegie Hall Citywide performances in venues throughout New York City through June 21 are cancelled. Earlier this month, Carnegie Hall announced that it was cancelling all performances and live programming from March 13 through March 31 to battle the spread of the virus. The Hall later extended the closure through May 10 in line with executive orders by City and New York State government officials banning large events in New York City as well as guidelines issued by the CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

While Carnegie Hall will be closed throughout the summer, plans currently continue toward convening the Hall’s three national youth ensembles—the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, NYO2, and NYO Jazz—beginning July 1, but with significant program alterations. Given current complications with international travel, all touring for these three groups has been cancelled for summer 2020, including NYO Jazz’s previously announced tour to South Africa. The three ensembles will instead share their music-making with local audiences through activities centered around their residency at Purchase College, State University of New York. Carnegie Hall continues to monitor public health conditions and will share further updates on this program later in spring 2020.

“Given Carnegie Hall’s primary commitment to the health and safety of the public, its artists, and staff, we had no choice other than to close the Hall through the end of the season in light of this ongoing crisis,” said Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall. “While it is deeply disappointing not to be able to welcome our artists and concertgoers back this season, our team continues to work tirelessly to develop meaningful new ways to continue to connect with audiences, bringing the power and inspiration of music to people everywhere at a time when we all need it more than ever.”

New Digital Offerings via carnegiehall.org

Throughout spring 2020, Carnegie Hall will seek to increase its connection with music lovers digitally, tapping into its relationships with world-renowned artists to create new digital features including interviews, stories, and reflections by leading musicians; mini-performances from home; and videos that provide deeper insight into great music and artists. These exciting new offerings will be presented on the Hall’s website and social channels alongside encore presentations of past Carnegie Hall Live radio broadcasts, webcasts, and selections from the Hall’s Archives.

While all live events and in-person programming presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) have been suspended through spring 2020, significant efforts are underway to pivot WMI’s high-quality music education programs digitally to serve students, families, and educators at home for the duration of the pandemic and beyond. This will include promoting the Hall’s Musical Explorers and Link Up curriculums, already used by many hundreds of thousands of elementary school students in classrooms nationwide, to parents and teachers via a new family-facing web page; sharing Carnegie Hall Music Educators’ Workshop video content with teachers; expanding resources for parents at home with very young children as an off-shoot of Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project; bringing community and programs for local teens online; and highlighting Carnegie Hall’s library of masterclass content with leading artists to benefit young professional musicians.

Financial Impact

While Carnegie Hall remains dedicated to serving its community through music and music education resources throughout this period, it is also addressing the serious financial impact of this sudden closure and the uncertain economic road ahead.

“Almost overnight, recent events have shattered everyone’s world in unprecedented ways,” said Mr. Gillinson. “It will take considerable time, even after we reopen Carnegie Hall, before we can expect to see a full recovery, and, even then, this is likely to be over an extended period. With this in mind, we are taking immediate steps to safeguard the fiscal health of our institution as well as plan creatively for the future.”

Carnegie Hall is currently projecting a $9 million operating deficit on its $104 million budget for the current fiscal year, ending June 30. As the Carnegie Hall team works toward re-opening the building, it is also assessing the Hall’s overall programming and operations with an eye to redefining them for the next and future seasons in response to the changed economic conditions.

“I want to thank everyone in the Carnegie Hall family for their extraordinary commitment to helping us ensure that we do our very best to secure the future of our unique institution, and devise how best to start building back to an even better future in the face of the most traumatic of times for everyone across the entire nation and around the world,” said Mr. Gillinson. “I know that our shared vision and shared passion for the central importance of music in everyone’s lives, along with the support of the public, will help us stay the course, guiding us to a place where Carnegie Hall will continue to thrive, delivering on its promise of bringing the best in music and music education to people all across the country and around the world.”
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For a list of March-July 2020 performances at Carnegie Hall that have been affected by the closure, please click here.

Carnegie Hall’s performance venues are expected to re-open to the public in mid-September, with the official start of Carnegie Hall’s season scheduled for October 7, 2020. The Hall’s offices and Resnick Education Wing may open at an earlier date pending public health conditions. In the meanwhile, Carnegie Hall’s administrative team continues to work remotely. The general public is encouraged to check carnegiehall.org/events for the most up-to-date programming information.

Information for Carnegie Hall Ticketholders:
Patrons interested in either donating their tickets to Carnegie Hall or receiving an account credit are asked to email [email protected] by April 15, 2020 with complete contact details (name, mailing address, and phone number), and the name and date of the concert listed on the tickets.

After April 15, all patrons who purchased tickets by credit card from Carnegie Hall for a performance that has been cancelled will receive refunds; those who purchased by cash at the Box Office may email a scan or photo of the tickets to [email protected] , along with complete contact details (name, mailing address, and phone number), through June 30, 2020, for a refund. Those who purchased tickets directly from other concert presenters should contact that presenter for refund information.

Please note that refunds will be completed as quickly as possible however on a more delayed schedule than usual. We thank our concertgoers for their patience as we navigate this evolving situation together.