Due to the latest covid measures, November Music 2020 will be cancelled at the very last minute. The organisers had prepared some 70 different concerts with 9 of their own commissions corona-proof. Larger venues and multiple performances of a concert were chosen in response to the limited audience size required by previous corona measures. Early (financial) agreements were made with musicians, crew, hired staff, suppliers and venues on how to proceed in case of cancellation.
For a long time, it seemed that November Music could be one of the few festivals to go ahead this year. The 10-day festival is made up of individual concerts and the audience buys a ticket for each concert. Thus, up to the last minute, it could be considered at concert level whether it was justified to let a concert go ahead.
This weekend, the festival would open with Bosch Requiem 2020 YeonDo, commissioned by November Music and written by Korean-Dutch composer Seung-Won Oh. After Kate Moore and Calliope Tsoupaki, she is the third female composer of the Bosch Requiem in a row. Festival composer Kaija Saariaho would come to 's-Hertogenbosch to attend the concerts featuring her music. Of the programme, about 10 concerts were to be streamed live online to complement the performance with an audience. Now all the performances are cancelled. November Music has always opted for concerts and live streams with people in the audience.
The entirely online-prepared New Music Conference, does go ahead. This day for creators, musicians and professionals in new music will be organised by November Music and Buma Cultuur on Friday 13 November.