At least three Orange Canton arts organizations take canceled or postponed performances this month due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus pandemic. And many more are considering cancellations, postponements and other adjustments due to the highly infectious nature of the latest variant.

Pacific Symphony has postponed concerts scheduled to take place this week, including "Mozart and Mahler" originally scheduled for January. 6-8, and Mahler's Symphony No. 4 scheduled for Sunday, Jan. nine. Ticket holders volition be able to attend concerts featuring the same repertoire on June 23-26.

"In consultation with guest artists, musicians and health experts, and given the proximity of these concerts to the holiday travel season, we decided to postpone the plan," said John Forsyte, president and CEO of Pacific Symphony, in a statement.

"Nosotros want to start off the new year honoring our ongoing commitment to the well-existence of our audiences, musicians and staff. We have that responsibleness seriously, so we appreciate your understanding, apologize for any inconvenience and expect forward to our performances later this month."

South Coast Repertory has canceled preview performances, Jan. vii-14, of "Final Terminate on Market Street," a Theatre for Young Audiences collaboration between SCR and Oanh Nguyen, the founding artistic manager of Take chances Theater in Anaheim. The production is now scheduled to open up Jan. 16, instead of Jan. fifteen, and run through Jan. 23.

In Aliso Viejo, the Soka Performing Arts Center is postponing its 10th anniversary season opening by two weeks. Pianist Emanuel Ax was scheduled for Jan. ix; he will now perform there on Apr 19. Soul multi-instrumentalist Booker T. Jones was scheduled to perform Jan. 15; he is at present on the books for Oct. 15. And Pacific Symphony was supposed to perform George Walker and Beethoven works with Stefan Milenkovich on January. 16. The concert is beingness postponed to a later date to exist appear.

Emanuel Ax Credit: Photo courtesy of Soka PAC/Lisa Marie Mazzucco

Soka is still expecting to open its tenthursday season with pianist Yefim Bronfman on January. 21.

"We're putting rubber first," said Renee Bodie, general manager of Soka Performing Arts Middle. "As we've seen at other performing arts venues, people are not set to spring back into full performance. Attendance has been a bit lower across the board. We're being cautious, which is a good thing."

The postponements come at an unfortunate time for Soka, every bit the venue was already one of the last performing arts organizations in the region to open its 2021-22 season, and it was gearing upwardly for its 10th anniversary with some heart- (and ear-)catching performances.

"Of grade information technology's a curveball," Bodie said. "But we have gotten really good at pivoting. It's disappointing, but on the other hand, nosotros just motility frontwards, like we ever have."

Other Orange County venues are playing it by ear, and have non yet fabricated major announcements of postponements or cancellations. The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa still plans to concur an outdoor Dia de los Reyes issue Sat, January. 8 on the Argyros Plaza, and the center is still selling tickets for "My Fair Lady," Jan. 11-23, and the Royal Combo Orchestra on Jan. 14. For those latter two indoor performances, all ticket holders must wear a mask and provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19, or accept negative PCR or Antigen tests taken within 48 hours or half dozen hours of performance, respectively.

The Irvine Barclay Theatre yet plans to present the Myriad Trio on January. 12 and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Branford Marsalis on Jan. 15. Masks and proof of vaccination volition be required.

Barclay president Jerry Mandel said in a statement: "As of at present, Irvine Barclay Theatre is not planning on postponing whatsoever of our upcoming shows, and nosotros look forward to our scheduled programming. We are closely monitoring the evolving information from the latest surge and will notify ticket buyers in the consequence of a cancellation or postponement."

In the visual arts earth, no O.C. museums have announced any closures. A 2021 German study indicated that museums are safer than whatsoever other public indoor environment, considering of their already robust air filtration systems and the fact that visitors naturally keep their distance from each other, even before the pandemic.

The Orange County Center for Contemporary Fine art (OCCCA) is still planning to hold a reception for "The Visual Adventures of Robert Williams" on Saturday, Jan. eight. The star of the group testify, 78-year-onetime creative person, Juxtapoz magazine founder and "lowbrow" male monarch Williams, is still planning to attend, he said in an interview last calendar week.

However, OCCCA has made some adjustments to the reception, according to lath members. Masks and social distancing volition be required, and OCCCA is considering the possibility of checking for vaccination cards, a spokeswoman said. There will exist no bar available, two doors volition be kept open during the unabridged event, and the reception'due south new hours volition be 6:30-10 p.m., rather than the originally scheduled 6-11 p.thou.

With the highly infectious Omicron variant even so spreading, changes could be fabricated on a daily basis. On the national level, the Sundance Film Festival, scheduled for Jan. 20-xxx in Park Urban center, Utah, has decided to get virtual instead of in-person. And the 64th almanac Grammy Awards were supposed to take place at Crypto.com Loonshit in Los Angeles on Jan. 31. However, that bear witness and circulate has been postponed to a later engagement, still to be determined.

Phonation of OC volition monitor local arts and culture events and venues, and provide updates as changes are appear.

Richard Chang is senior editor for Arts & Culture at Voice of OC. He tin can be reached at rchang@voiceofoc.org.

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