Comments on: all’idea di quel metallo

Anna Notremolo commented

Anna Notremolo — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:54:23 +0000

opera opera, re #19: One of the questions I’ve never had the gonads to ask of Peter Gelb in a public forum is what effect the Met HD broadcasts have had on regional opera companies.

In my case, I find it far easier to go to Manhattan once or twice a year, than to go the 30 miles into LA, being unable to rely on public transportation late at night (the trains don’t run past 11:00), and I sure don’t like driving my car on the freeways at that hour. So, between the trips to NY and the relatively cheap HD broadcast prices — AND the comfort of the stadium-syle seats — LA Opera has lost my season ticket support. And I suspect it’s been the same story all over this country, and even more so in the currect economic climate. A little of the Law of Unintended Consequences at work….

Anna Notremolo commented

Anna Notremolo — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:22:33 +0000

The Met’s National Patron Weekend will be November 13-15. One of the events scheduled is a conversation with Peter Gelb, and it’s usually open to questions after his prepared remarks. As one Patron who’s shortened this year’s trip (I don’t have the heart to spend the kind of bucks an extended trip requires) I’m very interested to hear what others have to say — especially those who, like me, provide the bread and butter (as opposed to the gravy), and are more likely to be negatively affected by the current economic situation.

Sometimes dinner conversation with Met staff members can be very enlightening…but candid talks with folks from the hinterlands can truly tell the tale.

News after the 17th!

opera opera commented

opera opera — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:04:14 +0000

What is sad is that LA opera and Washington are having trouble meeting payroll. LA opera chairman is reportedly writing personal checks to cover the costs. Although the Met has done a tremendous job of getting money in more than anyone else, they are spending much, much more and will probably not meet the expectations demaned of the fundraising aspect. There is mutiny on the Santa Fe board against the President. The Met is carrying an 11 million dollar deficit, which you know will grow a great deal in the next year – Grand Opera is very, very expensive and all the more reason PG is trying to do other kinds of opera there, but that house is too damn big for many operas that cannot withstand the stretch to try and make them grand operas and these other operas don’t sell at the Met. People expect grand opera at the Met, not Dr. Atomic, not House of the Dead, not Nixon in China – sorry but they had to go back to Agnes Varis and say the tickets were not selling and in order for her to save face she had to give an additional 500K to make tickets cheaper and even then – the house is not full. Opera ain’t easy!

kashania commented

kashania — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:30:26 +0000

Thackery: I wish that I had intended that bit of extra wit but alas, no…

Thackeray Gnomey commented

Thackeray Gnomey — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:54:46 +0000

“I seriously doubt that Gelb had unlimited access to the endowment as has been suggested.”

kashania, I was wondering for a moment whether you had picked up on the parallel thread about the naked executioner in Covent Garden’s Salome!

kashania commented

kashania — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:27:32 +0000

I seriously doubt that Gelb had unlimited access to the endowment as has been suggested. Most endowments that I know of have very strict guidelines in terms of how much they pay out per year (4% to 4.5%). Gelb HAS been fundraising and I’m sure he’s superb at it. He’s vulnerable to criticims in the artistic department but I don’t doubt that he knows how to make and raise money.

mrmyster commented

mrmyster — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:15:57 +0000

Contopro! What good news! The Board has come to its senses!
Now Gelb has to show us what he’s really got!

Contopro commented

Contopro — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:57:15 +0000

do not believe it. They have offically denied Gelb from using any more of the endownment and now he MUST fundraise. I do NOT believe those numbers at all.

jack jikes commented

jack jikes — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:21:43 +0000

Rinaldo –

Mortier shows up – City Opera immediately has a different mission. He wants half the tickets sold to be under $60 with most of those under $25. Sounds plenty volkish to me. Plus – with the large seating capacity – if a show is a hit you stand a chance of getting in.
In Europe getting tickets for an opera ‘event’ is a pain in the ass. In NY we can usually just show up minutes before curtain
time.

Rinaldo commented

Rinaldo — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:18:17 +0000

“Gelb looks like Uncle Scrooge of Donald duck fame; diving into that vault of money.”

Well, this is the famous Uncle Scrooge cartoon panel, after all, with Gelb pasted in. (We can see Donald, Huey, Louie, and Dewey in the doorway.) That’s the whole point, right?

I agree that a real Volksoper, away from Lincoln Center and with a different mission, would be a most valuable addition to the city. (And I think it ought to include carefully selected productions of musicals of yesteryear — not the ones done elsewhere, but maybe stuff like The Cat and the Fiddle or The Golden Apple.) And in a humane-sized theater.

But I wonder if such a thing is feasible any more financially. It would lose money by boatloads at every performance.

harry commented

harry — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:47:24 +0000

Gelb looks like Uncle Scrooge of Donald duck fame; diving into that vault of money.

mrmyster commented

mrmyster — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:46:12 +0000

Good news about the Met’s funds raising, and we also should remember the increase in their endowment — what is it now, almost $400-million?
Correct me if I am wrong.
The Met is very much a high end retailer, and it always will be. That is why the dear old New York City Opera was founded many decades ago by a bunch of civic-minded men in Manhatten to be a Volksopera — the people’s opera, where, I vividly recall, one could hear Cav/Pag for $3 a seat. I guess the Met does a little bit of that, out of their munificence. But a healthy and modestly managed — and I mean non-society managed — NYCO would be a very good thing for the profession and for the NY community. I am by no means sanguine that Chief Squaw Susan Baker, and Main Man Mortier are the ones to do it. Check back in five years. I don’t want to see the NYCO be a mini-Met. It needs to be entirely different, and frankly, located out of Lincoln Center – I want to see blue jeans, no neckties, no limos and lots of latte at intermission.
MrM.

Brooklynpunk commented

Brooklynpunk — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:33:04 +0000

High C..

If a bottle of scent keeps em afloat–who cares how stinky it might really be—lol!

Maybe someone can unearth some of Bubbles DNA, and do the same for NYCO?

turandot commented

turandot — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:57:07 +0000

Good for them. Where was NYCO on that list? Did they even make the list? Speaking of “douchebags.” Any Mortier news lately?

High C's @ 4:20 commented

High C's @ 4:20 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:02:58 +0000

Dont worry Bpunk… the 2008 reports will reflect the income from the proceeds from the sale of “La Voce”… its all good…

Brooklynpunk commented

Brooklynpunk — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:50:55 +0000

Congratulation, to Gelb-and The MET–at least for 2007…

I wonder what (shuddering at the the dire situation now) the numbers will show for 2008–and the foreseeable years , ahead…?

Rinaldo commented

Rinaldo — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:46:40 +0000

I agree with Kashania — good for them.

2 cent commented

2 cent — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:44:12 +0000

I think he looks ugly…for a house that prefers looks over talent, you’d think they get a more handsome corporate douchebag…

Chanteuse commented

Chanteuse — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:42:53 +0000

That’s a lot of money.

Chanteuse commented

Chanteuse — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:40:15 +0000

That’s the funniest picture ever.

And Gelb looks downright decent in it.