Introduction
The Metropolitan Opera, located in New York, NY, is cultural institution steeped in history and known for its bombastic opera productions. The original opera house opened in 1883, and eventually the large scale performances outgrew the space. Lincoln Center presented an opportunity for a new home, and since 1966 some of the most iconic moments in opera history have occurred on that stage. Between 2013-2014 the Metropolitan Opera weathered the most contentious labor negotiations in its history.
Background
Peter Gelb has been the general director of the Metropolitan Opera since 2007. By 2013, Gelb had a proud track record of accomplishments. High-definition theatrical broadcasts of Met opera productions in cities around the world brought grand opera to an audience of millions and opened a new revenue stream— totalling thirty two million in 2013. To attract new audiences, Gelb had brought a roster of acclaimed directors to the Met stage
…show more content…
and introduced fifty-four new productions, averaging seven per year—a Met record. Yet the Met’s expenses had soared.
In 2013, they were three hundred and twenty-seven million dollars—forty-seven per cent higher than when Gelb took over. Because the box-office accounted for less than a third of revenue, the Met depended heavily on charitable contributions. Though revenue had grown by nearly fifty per cent, to three hundred and twenty-four million dollars, the company was running an operating deficit of $2.8 million.
Despite a multiyear bull market in stocks, the Met’s endowment had withered to two hundred and fifty-three million dollars, from a peak of three hundred and forty-five million in October, 2007, owing in part to annual withdrawals to fund operations. In 2013, the Met drew twenty-one million dollars from the endowment, an alarming spending rate of 8.3%. In 2012, the Met had tapped the bond market to borrow a hundred million dollars. Meanwhile, attendance had fallen from ninety-two per cent of capacity, in 2007-08, to seventy-nine per cent, in the 2012-13 season.
Labor
Representation In the spring of 2014, the Metropolitan Opera opened labor talks with the 16 unions representing its workers, whose contracts would all expire at the end of July. Approximately 2,400 of the Met's 3,400 employees are union members. They cover a broad swath of activities ranging from singing in the chorus, playing in the orchestra, dancing, painting sets, running the box office, singing solo roles, working in the call center, posting bills (advertising posters), running cameras and taking tickets. The full list includes the following unions: AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists) — chorus, soloists, dancers, stage directors, choreographers AFM Local 802 (American Federation of Musicians) — orchestra, librarians, music staff Directors Guild of America — directors and stage managers IATSE Local One (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) — carpenters, electricians IATSE Local 4 — parks crew IATSE Local 751 — box office treasurers IATSE Local 764 — wardrobe, costumers IATSE Local 794 — camera crew IATSE Local 798 — wig/hair and makeup artists IATSE Local 829 — scenic artists, scenic, costume, lighting, sound, projection designers IATSE Local 829BP — bill poster IBT Local 210 (International Brotherhood of Teamsters) — call center IUOE Local 30 (International Union of Operating Engineers) — building engineers IUPAT Local 1456 (International Union Of Painters And Allied Trades) — painter SEIU Local 32BJ (Service Employees International Union) — ushers, ticket takers, cleaners, porters, security, office services Going into the negotiations, labor and management agreed on one fundamental point—that Metropolitan Opera was struggling financially thanks to falling ticket sales, a depleted endowment, and growing expenses. Perhaps not surprisingly, however, both sides disagreed on where needed budget cuts should come from. In total, the opera needed to cut approximately $30 million to keep the budget right sized and avoid continuing to take additional funds from the endowment. Timeline of Conflict In March 2014, the Metropolitan Opera made public their plan to cut salaries among all employees. Alan Gordon, AGMA’s executive director, responded with an open letter to all members of the 16 unions. In his letter, Gordon made disingenuous comments on the opera’s spending and used inflammatory rhetoric suggesting a lockout was inevitable. Gordon claimed that Met’s problems were likely due to “[Gelb’s] failing business model and unregulated waste”. He also took issue with the Met’s contention that labor costs were too high by adding, “When Peter arrived at the Met, he inherited from Joe Volpe [the previous general manager] a balanced budget of $209 million. Last year, his productions had swollen the budget to $311 million, with a $2.8 million deficit, and a shrinking audience.” This contract negotiation was the first that the unions and opera had underwent without Joe Volpe at the helm. The unions didn’t trust Gelb, who was seen as an outsider. In contrast, Volpe was the former master carpenter at the Met who rose through the ranks; he was the first general manager to have been a union member. There were no strikes or lockouts during his tenure.The previous round of contract talks, in 2011, had been handled by Volpe, as they had for most of the previous twenty-eight years of his time as general director. The unions were reluctant to work with Gelb and began to take their grievances to the public. In their discussions with the press, union members cited three areas they felt were wasteful spending -- Sunday rehearsals which were billed at overtime costs per contracts, excessive spending on productions, and international airfare costs for artists. In reality, these three points would only amount in a cost savings of several million and not enough of a reduction in costs to prevent cutting salaries. Just a few days before the contract was set to expire and with a lockout looming, a federal mediator was brought in to work with Gelb and two of the company's largest unions, AGMA and IATSE.The two sides agreed to an outside investigation into the opera’s finances. The results of that investigation were confidential and non-binding, but it continued the negotiations and avoided the threatened lockout. Gelb continued to rally for $30 million in cuts to employee compensation and benefits. But Met workers continued to argue that Gelb was wasting money on elaborate new productions that are not filling the opera house. A deal was reached behind closed doors in early August 2014. Gelb initially sought pay cuts as well as, cuts to health and pension benefits, and changes in the work rules to a total of $30 million in savings. In the end, he dropped many of his toughest demands, but won the first pay cuts from the Met’s unionized workers in decades — and agreed to match the savings with nonlabor cuts, and to allow an independent analyst to monitor the company’s finances. The combined cuts by labor and management would eliminate $90 million worth of expenses over the next four years. Contracts with each of the unions varied in length but most were between four and six years. Although the labor unions took a cut in pay, they did score a win in securing independent analysis of the opera’s finances. Recommendations The worst labor strike in the Metropolitan Opera’s history ended leaving both sides with frayed trust and respect. Public opinion of the opera house also suffered, given the drawn out nature of the negotiations and media involvement in the conflict. The Met will begin to negotiate the next round of contracts in 2018 and public opinion is that these will be just as tenuous as the last. Looking ahead, there are a few recommendations that could be made to the unions and board leadership to ease tensions in the coming negotiations. Management should consider adding a representative from the larger unions to the financial subcommittees of the Board of Directors. Unions could also work with management to come up with ways to simplify work rules. This move will show the union members that the management has a desire for transparency and also values their contributions. Another key area of improvement is both labor and management’s interaction with the media. Both sides used the media to spread misinformation and messages. Agreeing to not leak to the media or make inflammatory statements would go a long way to keep the public’s opinion of the opera company from eroding further. Finally, I would suggest that both labor and management consider the use of a third party arbitrator or mediator from the beginning of negotiations. An arbitrator would negotiate on behalf of both parties, while a mediator would assist both parties in negotiation. Both options would allow the presence of a neutral third party that could help direct the conversation.
...hould be clearly outlined. Goals and Objective must be discussed, and the implementation process. If I were to side on this budget, it would be Janet Dobbs’s. I believe she had clear financial plans as to how much money should be allocated and where on behalf of the organization. Her only downfall, I would say is not keeping the mission in mind. She only had one goal in mind and that was to eliminate the debt, once the debt was eliminated, what other goals would the company strive to obtain. I understand the board members are not worried about the debt at the moment, but to only focus on touching the public through art, and not the finance of the organization as well, will result in the company eventually closing.
In 1870, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded by a group of businessmen and artists who wanted a place to present and educate the public to a variety of art. This museum houses paintings, sculptures, costumes, musical instruments, and antique weaponry. The works range from classical antiquity through the European masters to modern art. The Frick Collection was opened to the public in 1935, transforming Henry Frick’s mansion into a gallery showcasing his extensive collection of European paintings, drawings, manuscripts and sculptures. Both museums have similar mission statements, with the Frick Museum’s directive to preserve Henry Frick’s collection of art and showcasing it publicly, and the Met’s objective to encourage and develop the education of the fine arts.
For my second cultural report I decided to go see a musical called “Wicked” in New York City with my girlfriend. I made this choice because I haven’t seen the famous Broadway Musical before but I was told by my girlfriend that it is a really good musical to do my report on. The musical was seen in New York City, New York on Broadway (March 31, 2017) at 8pm in Gershwin Theatre. Wicked is the musical story of The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West and Glenda the Good before Dorothy came. Wicked spotlights the untold stories of The Wizard of Oz’s most infamous characters, the Wicked Witch of the West and her unlikely friend, Glinda the Good. The show follows green-skinned star Elphaba from birth to college and through the events which eventually
Eastern Washington University Department of Music presented a program of Opera works by Giacomo Puccini, Aron Copland, W.A. Mozart, John Dowland, Franz Shubert, Maurice Ravel, and Robert Schumann on Friday, March 7, 6:30 p.m., in the Music Building, Recital Hall. These Opera works were sung by Senior Recitalist, Alexandra Rannow.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Classical Music Concert Report. I attended the Los Angeles Philharmonic classical music concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Friday 29 November 2013. The classical concert started at 8:00pm to the enjoyment of the huge audience that had been waiting for this amazing music extravaganza. Classical music concerts always offer magnificent entertainment and the audience in this concert was expectant to derive such entertainment or more. In attendance were Christian Zacharias, who was the conductor, and Martin Chalifour, who was the LA Phil commanding Principal Concertmaster and Bach violin player.
Rudy, Carol-Ann. "Post-election Broadway Ticket Sales Show Decline." Ticket News. 5 Nov. 2008. Web. 10 May 2010. .
Mahler's early career was spent at a serious of regional opera houses (Hall in 1880, Laibach in 1881, Olmutz in 1882, Kassel in 1883, Prague in 1885, Liepzig in 1886-8, Budapest from 1886-8, and Hamburg from 1891-7), a normal career path, until he arrived as head of the Vienna Opera in 1897. Mahler ended some of the more slovenly performance pra...
There was Phantom, who was named Eric from France, in The Opera House. Everyone in city spoke about it and every worker in Opera was afraid of him, except doorkeeper Madame Giry, whom he spoke only. He controlled everything there. Each director ignored him at the beginning, but they accepted his demands after some accidents happened to them or to their workers. The last time, the directors of Opera were Armand Moncharmin and Firmin Richard. They have two singers, one Christine Daae and the other La Carlotta. La Carlotta, whom all citizens loved, was very famous and main singer in The Opera. Christine was very young and inexperienced, but she was pretty beautiful.
The information provided in the Operating Statement of Johns Hopkins Hospital shows the operating revenue (the daily business that generates income) was 1,791,899 and total-operating expenses including such items as salaries, supplies, provision for bad debt etc. was 1,706,672. By subtracting operating revenue from operating expenses the gross profit can be calculated, which totaled
The history of opera companies in New York City may bring to mind the largesse of the Metropolitan Opera Company, but for years before that opera was alive and well, and even thriving, in New York City. High society in New York had long been envious of the elegance associated with European opera outings, but it wasn't until 1825 that the first production of an opera was performed on a New York stage – an Italian opera troupe performing the premiere of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. A review from the New York Evening Post reported, “the first-night house was full”, and noted with a “touch of relief” that “an assemblage of ladies so fashionable, so numerous… so elevated, so ‘European’” attended the performance. Accompanying the ladies of high
Music has the capability to bring forth many emotions and feelings in a person. Depending on the tone and the melody of the music, emotions such as anger, joy, and grief may arise. For example, rap music, in general, brings forth emotions such as anger, frustration, and rage to a person's mind. Melodies such as Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On and Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing often arouse emotions of love, sadness, and hope; "lovey-dovey" feelings which remind a person of a past or current love. In Mozart's Opera Don Giovanni, many emotions and feelings, such as hatred, distress, and sorrow are portrayed and felt through the characters.
... middle of paper ... ... A majority of her staff is on contract and generally works less than the symphony does. This provides a great opportunity for the opera employees to increase their potential performances and network with a much more renowned organization.
On Friday November 3rd I had the pleasure of attending an evening of Opera titled Love Through the Ages with Maria Fortuna and Nancy Townsend at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre. Having never been to an Opera performance I had no idea of what to expect and was looking forward to this new experience. Fortuna was accompanied by multi-faceted pianist Nancy Townsend. These two musicians showed tremendous expertise and were able to keep my attention through the extent of the program.
The orchestra was well amplified throughout the Lincoln Center Opera House because it was clearly heard from our upper mezzanine seating. Sunken down below in front of the stage is where I found the opera orchestra. The opera orchestra, which is quite similar to a full symphony orchestra, was starting to warm-up as I entered the "jewelry box". In the orchestra pit I found aerophones, which included, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, as well as a flute, piccolo, english horn, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, bass trombone, and a tuba; chordophones, which included the first and second violins, violas, cellos, and a harp; membranophones were made up of the percussion and a timpani. The dynamics range from piano to extreme fortissimo throughout the four act opera. This helped the audience grasp the feelings and emotion that the characters were trying to displ...
There are countless organizations throughout the world providing services to government agencies, educational institutions, medical facilities, and individuals. No matter what type of services an organization provides or to whom, financial management is essential to their economic viability. Consequently, many questions must be asked and decisions made pertaining to the finances of an organization. An organization must take into consideration, what long-term investments they should partake in, how they plan on financing the long-term investments, their liabilities and short-term assets, and how daily financial activities will be conducted. While these are not the only questions and decisions an organization must entertain, they are crucial