They Told Me Not to Take that Job: Tumult, Betrayal, Heroics, and the Transformation of Lincoln Center by Levy Reynold

Author:Levy, Reynold [Levy, Reynold]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781610393621
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2015-05-12T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

A Year of Reckoning at the Met

A convalescing patient who does not finish their course of treatment takes a grave risk.

—LAWRENCE SUMMERS

The figures are staggering.

In a single year, more people come to see a performance at the Metropolitan Opera House than reside in all but nine of America’s cities. The Met stages twenty-three operas annually. To view as many pieces of repertoire in a single season elsewhere would require you to attend the entire seasons of at least four, sometimes five, other leading opera companies around the nation.

The Met’s 2013 annual operating budget stood at about $330 million. No performing or visual arts organization of any kind approaches that figure in America, except for the comparably sized Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met Opera’s operating budget is actually larger than the next eight largest opera companies in America combined. Number two is the San Francisco Opera, and its annual expenditures are only 20 percent of those of the Metropolitan Opera, or $68 million.

The Met’s payroll embraces 3,400 full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees. They include 140 musicians, 80 full-time chorus members, and employees represented by no fewer than sixteen trade unions. To appreciate the complexity of just the unionized workforce, consider its composition by functional category. Orchestra musicians and librarians. The chorus, principal singers, directors, and stage managers. Ushers and ticket takers. Cleaning staff. Porters, security guards, and office service workers. Call center employees. Building engineers. Box office treasurers. Costume and wardrobe. Camera operators. Wigs, hair, and make up. Scenic artists and designers. Parks crew. Bill poster. Painter.

Both in the sheer number of employees, union and management, and in the intricacy of its organization, the Met Opera’s workforce dwarfs any other performing arts entity in this country.

The Met Opera’s artistic productivity also knows no equal. In Peter Gelb’s first decade at the helm, the Met will have presented sixty-two new productions and introduced seventeen new works to its repertory. The comparable number in Joe Volpe’s last decade as general manager was forty-five new productions and twelve Met premieres.

To be in charge of an operation of this astonishing size, scope, and elaborateness is a formidable management assignment. For someone who works in this or a related field, the likes of Joe Volpe or Peter Gelb, the two Met Opera general managers who presided during my tenure as Lincoln Center’s president, must evoke empathy. Theirs is a tough job. It is not easy to balance divas and dollars, season after season. Satisfying demanding audiences and critics, particularly in the media capital of the world, is a constant battle. And endeavoring to contain expenses and expand earned and contributed revenue every single year cannot be easy.

When it was announced in October 2004 that Gelb was to succeed Volpe, effective in August 2006, the Met Opera’s board of directors wisely put him on the payroll immediately. Volpe remained in charge of the place, fully accountable for its operations. Everyone recognized that there can be only one general manager at a time. But for about

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.