Money pit
The good news is that the Met reduced its operating deficit for 2008-2009 to $1.3 million, down from $12.2 million a year earlier. The bad news is the company’s assets fell by $72.6 million (down to $422.7 million) primarily because of investment losses. In other news, the Met paid James Levine a bit more than Peter Gelb received for the fiscal year, slightly over $1.5 million. (La Cieca will now sit back and listen to the online explanations of how unfair this is, because Jimmy actually makes music whereas Gelb just sits in an office all day thinking about how much he hates opera.) [via Bloomberg]
I really hope..for the safety of the staff at the MET…that Oceaneering International had no involvement in supplying equipment to oil-rigs in the Gulf of Mexico…….
How about treating Levine just like any of his divas — no show
no dough?! It turns out he’s a sort of piece worker anyway, as
he certainly has not been doing much music/artistic direction
at the Met – and for a long time.
After laughing hysterically at all the naughty puns, I have to be serious.
It appears that Levine has serious health problems and that his recovery will be more complex than he and others had hoped. It might not happen at all; hence Luisi’s appointment. This is something anyone could find difficult to accept. Levine probably does not want to retire anymore than Domingo does, but that may be right around the corner.
And now, please do continue with the awful puns.
Yeah, sure, uh huh.
Okay.
I hap-PUN to think that James Levine is one of the greatest artists ever to appear at The Metropolitan Opera and I thank him heartily for what he has done.
Rest and recover, Maestro.
Agreed. Jimmy is awesome.
I feel so left out of this punning thing!!! You all are way too adult for me. And just not Christian enough!!!!!
But it’s okay I guess, since all you godless heathens are going to H-town while I, like all good little Catholic boys, will go to heaven from whence I can look down upon you and frown briefly.
There have some fun with that one.
I recently heard from a member of the Met orchestra that he feels Levine doesn’t like him and he thus fears for his future there. This would imply to me that Levine’s role is somewhat more pervasive than showing up for a few performances. Am I wrong?
Well, there is power and then there is responsibility. I have no doubt Levine can get people fired on not much more than a whim, but there’s a lot more to the position of musical director than just firing people and assigning yourself the cream of the assignments.
But do we have actual evidence that that’s all he does at the Met? (My question is a sincere one, since I realize that you may in fact have such evidence.)
I can only hope that some of Levine’s taste rubs off on Gelb.