(Credit: Wiener Staatsoper)

The Wiener Staatsoper has announced that it will make face masks mandatory during performances starting Oct. 25, 2020. Upon reopening in September, spectators were allowed to take their face masks off when seated.

The management’s decision of the Wiener Staatsoper comes one day after Austria logged its biggest daily number of new COVID-19 cases. The country reached a record of 3,616 cases on Oct. 24, 2020.

Performances at the Wiener Staatsoper continue on Oct. 25 2020, with the premiere of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin,” starring Nicole Car in the role of Tatyana, Anna Goryachova in the role of Olga, Bogdan Volkov as Lensky, Dimitry Ivashchenko in the role of Count Gremin, and Andrè Schuen in the title role.