The Met is also in trouble . . . and when the Met is in trouble, the whole world should be shaking . . .
From the NY TIMES
January 16, 2009
Metropolitan Opera Faces Cuts, Its Leader Says
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Just as it was riding high in the opera world, the Metropolitan Opera has been bludgeoned by the recession and now faces a “disaster scenario” unless the company finds major cost cuts, including concessions from its powerful unions, the Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, said on Thursday.
Its once-mighty endowment of more than $300 million has dropped by a third, to a point where it cannot be drawn from; donations are down by $10 million this season; and ticket sales are expected to be off by several million dollars from what was expected, Mr. Gelb said in an interview.
Mr. Gelb said that he and senior staff members have taken a 10 percent pay cut and that the rest of the staff would do so at the end of the fiscal year, which concludes after the season. He said at least four expensive productions have been canceled or replaced next season as well.
Without drastic action across the board, he said, shortfalls could reach “double-digit” millions of dollars next season. One person who attended a meeting with Mr. Gelb and spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing any future talks said he used the hypothetical figure of a $40 million deficit. This season’s budget is $291 million.
The good news? The Met has scrapped plans for a cumulative 8 percent increase in ticket prices. “We think people can’t afford them,” Mr. Gelb said. Ticket prices now range from $15 to $375. But the decision also means less revenue.
Mr. Gelb delivered the dire message over the past seven days to all 16 of the Met’s unions, and outlined the situation at a regularly scheduled board meeting on Thursday. He said he would address the entire company on Friday in the Met’s auditorium.
“The economic crisis has had an effect on all cultural institutions, and the Met is no exception,” Mr. Gelb said. “It’s affected our endowment, it’s affected our cash flow, it’s affected our revenue streams. What we don’t want is for it to affect our artistic productivity.”
Opera companies, orchestras and most other performing-arts institutions around the country are facing similar problems as ticket buyers are opting for cheaper nights out, foundations have less to give and the wealthy upon whom high art depends are looking at shriveled portfolios.
Mr. Gelb said that thanks to $7 million in administrative cuts this year and support from board members, the Met expects to meet its planned budget goal of a slightly less than a $2 million deficit this year. But the situation will become dire next season without cost savings, he said.
“We’ve asked the unions to work together with us to meet this challenge,” Mr. Gelb said. “If the word is concession, then say they’re concessions. I think the unions and the larger family of the Met believes in the Met as an institution. My belief is they will want to do what is right to keep the Met a vibrant, thriving organization.” Mr. Gelb said he would also ask principal singers to take a reduction in fees.
Two people who attended the meetings and spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were considered confidential said Mr. Gelb asked for 10 percent pay cuts from the unions for each of the next two years.
The New York City Opera, also in big economic trouble, has said it would seek union concessions as well.
The three main unions at the Met represent the orchestra, the chorus and the stagehands. Through a spokesman, officials of Local 1, the stagehands union, declined to comment, as did the chorus members union, the American Guild of Musical Artists. Members of the orchestra’s leadership committee did not immediately return phone messages on Thursday. It was probable that the unions would ask to examine the company’s books before agreeing to any givebacks.
The crunch comes just as Mr. Gelb was to announce the first season programmed on his watch. He took over as general manager in the fall of 2006, and extended the company’s reach through movie-theater broadcasts and the Internet, brought in a bevy of new directors and new productions and raised the star quality of its singers. Mr. Gelb said ticket sales were still stronger than what they were before he took over, pointing out that 21 of 32 performances in December were sold out.
The money woes put a damper on his plans for next season. The planned revival of John Corigliano’s “Ghosts of Versailles” has been canceled, to be replaced by “La Traviata.” Another expensive revival, “Benvenuto Cellini” by Berlioz, has been sidelined. “It’s a great sacrifice, frankly, because it’s a great piece of repertory,” Mr. Gelb said. Its loss was also a blow to James Levine, the music director, who holds Berlioz dear.
Revivals of “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” by Shostakovich and “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” by Richard Strauss are being replaced by two other Strauss operas: “Ariadne auf Naxos” and “Elektra,” respectively.
“When I took this job, I didn’t expect this to happen,” Mr. Gelb said. “Because of all the success the Met has had in the past couple of years, we’re in a better position to face this challenge than we were otherwise. When you go to the hospital for an operation when you’re fit, you recover faster.”
