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]
The Canadian contralto opera artist and recitalist has died. She was 79. [The Globe and Mail]
Next time you feel like rolling your eyes at one of La Cieca’s informal for-entertainment-only polls, put then back in your head and gaze on this silliness.
Departing Wiener Staatsoper General Director Ioan Holender has signed a two-year agreement to act as consultant to the Met. La Cieca speculates: is he replacing the less than effectual Eva Wagner-Pasquier? [Die Presse]
“Francesca Zambello, the new general and artistic director of the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y., has put an immediate stamp on the institution, changing its name to the Glimmerglass Festival and adding a regular piece of musical theater to the agenda…. The musical will be Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun.” [NYT]
It’s too bad bookmakers don’t offer odds on the casting predicted on Bradley Wilber’s Met Futures Page. Because, if they did, it would be hilarious to see just how long the odds would be against a 2011-2012 “NABUCCO with Maria Guleghina.” Or do you think there is any less likely casting anywhere in the latest update?
Cher Public