New York's Metropolitan Opera on Thursday laid off all of its union employees, including musicians, singers and stagehands, for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.

The Met Opera ranks as the largest performing arts organization in the U.S. by budget. General Manager Peter Gelb enacted a "force majeure" clause for employees' contracts after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) banned gatherings of more than 500 people, which has since been escalated to 50 or more, according to NPR.

The Met announced Thursday afternoon that all performances would be canceled through the end of its 2019-2020 season, which had been set to end May 9.

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"As devastating as it is to have to close the Met, this was the rare instance where the show simply couldn't go on," Gelb said in a statement. "We send our thanks to our loyal audiences, and we're doing our best to support our employees during this extraordinarily difficult time."

Management will still offer health care premiums and instrument insurance for musicians, with employee salaries lasting through the end of the month.

The company plans to resume performances beginning in the fall, but said complications could arise if large crowd bans continue during the summer months when performers practice and rehearse for the upcoming season.