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Salt Lake County will keep its art venues closed through February because of COVID-19 concerns

Abravanel Hall, Capitol Theatre, Eccles Theater and Rose Wagner will remain dark into 2021

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The marquee of the Capitol Theatre in downtown Salt Lake City. The theater, home to Ballet West and Utah Opera, is one of four Salt Lake County-operated arts venues that will remain closed through Feb. 28, 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  | Dec. 18, 2020, 6:07 p.m.
| Updated: 8:14 p.m.

Salt Lake County will keep its four downtown Salt Lake City arts venues closed through Feb. 28, 2021, the county announced Friday.

The four venues — Abravanel Hall, Capitol Theatre, Eccles Theater and Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center — were closed before Thanksgiving because of the surge of cases of COVID-19. The closure was to last to the end of December, but officials opted to extend it because of “an abundance of caution and an effort to reduce the impact on our medical resources.”

The December closures forced the Utah Symphony and Utah musician Kurt Bestor’s Christmas shows to go online only — and prompted Ballet West to offer a video production of its version of “The Nutcracker” on KSL-TV on Christmas Eve and Christmas evening.

Utah Symphony and Utah Opera announced they would not hold any of the previously scheduled live performances in January and February, but will record selected shows for the USUO: On Demand streaming portal.

Ballet West had scheduled performances of “Romeo and Juliet” in mid-February at the Capitol; the troupe has not announced whether those will be postponed or canceled. The Broadway at the Eccles season, which has had several postponements and cancellations already, isn’t slated to start again until May.