Teatro dell'Opera di Roma remains closed due to Coronavirus lockdown.

Rome's opera house, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, has elected a new board under the presidency of the city's mayor Virginia Raggi.

Carlo Fuortes, who has been the Sovrintendente of the opera house since December 2013, has had his role extended for a further five years.

The new board has also approved changes to the 2020 budget following the crisis due to the Coronavirus pandemic, according to a statement issued by Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

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Welcoming the reappointment of Fuortes at the helm of "one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in Italy and the world", Raggi said: "All the more in these difficult days, we need culture, the deepest essence of our identity, to be kept alive."

The opera house has been closed since 8 March, as part of a nationwide lockdown resulting from the Covid-19 crisis, but it has been busy streaming operas from past seasons.

In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on 10 April, Fuortes said that the summer outdoor programme of opera, dance and concerts at the Baths of Caracalla is now looking "highly unlikely" given the present circumstances.

For all updates see Teatro dell'Opera di Roma website. Photo Yasuko Kageyama / TOR.