Wigmore Hall announces 2021-22 season as government considers allowing vaccinated travellers to avoid quarantine

Wigmore Hall has planned a 2021-22 series that welcomes a full return to pre-pandemic programming, as the government considers allowing fully vaccinated travellers from the EU and US to avoid quarantine when they arrive in England.

Artists in residence for the upcoming season, who will perform on a number of occasions, are the countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński, the saxophonist Jess Gillam, the violinists Alina Ibragimova and Christian Tetzlaff, the pianists Sergei Babayan, Angela Hewitt, Benjamin Grosvenor and Leon McCawley, jazz bassist Christian McBride, soprano Fatma Said, the Danish String Quartet and ensembles Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Arcangelo, Gabrieli Consort, The Sixteen, Solomon’s Knot and Tenebrae.

While the hall will be open to live audiences, over 150 concerts will be streamed online next season, beginning with 15 streams in September.

Young people under-35 will have special access to 25,000 tickets at £5 for selected concerts throughout the year.

John Gilhooly, artistic and executive director of Wigmore Hall, said: ‘It has been a great joy welcoming audiences back to Wigmore Hall again, with the hope of fuller houses from September. Having navigated through the most difficult period in the Hall’s history, we are under no illusion about the challenges ahead. 

'There is the possibility of postponements or cancellations as each international territory moves through this crisis at a different pace. 'However, we also want to be as confident as we possibly can be, and we will be quick on our feet in reacting to challenges, as required, to deliver this, with solutions in the Hall itself, or online, as we have done right through this crisis.'

Commenting on the news that the government is considering allowing vaccinated to travellers from the EU and US to avoid quarantine when they arrive in England, Gilhooly added: 'Wigmore Hall welcomes today’s news that the government is considering allowing fully vaccinated travellers from the EU and US to avoid quarantine when they arrive in England.

'Concerts by international musicians have been central to the Hall’s 120-year history and the UK’s cultural life. From September we have planned more than 500 concerts by musicians from 30 nations. 

'In addition to the new rules for EU and US travellers, we request that the government will grant leading international musicians from all countries the same exemptions as elite athletes or business leaders.’

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