“The New York City Opera, which just reported a $19.9 million deficit in 2008-09, paid Gerard Mortier $400,000 for his stint as part-time general-manager in-waiting.” [Bloomberg News]
You know, La Cieca and her alter ego JJ are just like the pair in that lovely song by Mr. Sondheim, “The Story of Lucy and Jessie.”
Well, not just like, perhaps. La Cieca can hardly be accused of having “maturity and plenty of security” and dear JJ does not exactly boast “the purity along with the unsurety that comes with being only twenty-one.” But, for the sake of the argument, let’s just say they see things in very different ways. Read more »
Reflecting on NYCO’s recent raid on its endowment, blogger David Curry writes about “what we might term ‘reasonable transparency’ when Board actions potentially compromise a nonprofit’s operating viability. Of particular interest (to La Cieca anyway) is Curry’s account of his communication (if that is not too strong a word) with Pascal Nadon, the NYCO’s Director of Media Relations & Strategic Partnerships.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when La Cieca called that NYT story about a potential strike at the New York City Opera “the scariest Friday news dump ever?” Well, she was wrong, wrong, wrong. The winner and new bone-chilling champion of all Friday news dumps just sneaked into the Times online. (Those of you with super-keen vision may be able to find it on page C-2 of tomorrow’s print edition.) In brief: since last fall, City Opera has “raided its endowment of a total of $23.5 million” to pay off debt and to meet current payroll “and other needs.” [...]
In a startling double-reverse action, the board of the New York City Opera has chosen George Steel as the company’s new General Director. The formal announcement of Steel’s appointment made moments ago (as, need one say, La Cieca predicted) in the New York Times. Steel, whose 14-week incumbency as General Manager of Dallas Opera has been mostly uneventful so far, previously had announced he was “not interested” in the NYCO position.
La Cieca realizes that you, cher public, are getting as antsy and downright annoyed at the machinations chez NYCO (oh, that’s right, they don’t have a “chez,” do they?) Anyway, as bemoneyed matrons on the NYCO board ravage the Upper West Side whilst hurling millions at each other, La Cieca thought she should put it to the level heads of the parterre commenters to decide: In the end, who’s going to get the top job at NYCO? (Note, this is not “who should get it,” but rather a prediction of who will get it.)
According to Bloomberg News, George Steel is interested in running the New York City Opera. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that George Steel is not interested in running the New York City Opera. What is clear, though, is that La Cieca had the story first.
Cher Public