NEW YORK (AP) - New York’s Metropolitan Opera has decided to go ahead with its tour of Japan in June.
Met general manager Peter Gelb sent a memorandum to the company Tuesday saying he based the decision on the lifting of the State Department’s travel advisory to Tokyo and “on official and scientific reports that the areas around Tokyo and Nagoya are safe.”
Gelb says the opera will re-evaluate the decision if the situation worsens.
He added that “our visit to Japan will raise the spirits of the Japanese people, who are in need of visible shows of support and solidarity” following last month’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Music director James Levine is to conduct Verdi’s “Don Carlo” in Nagoya on June 5, the 40th anniversary of his Met debut. The tour, the Met’s seventh of Japan, runs from June 4-19.
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