UPDATE: The Met has responded to the presentation from Local 802 et. al.

PREVIOUSLY: La Cieca has come into possession of an interesting presentation, with fonts and everything, from Local 802, American Federation of Musicians, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, outlining their solution for the current financial crisis at the Metropolitan Opera. You may not be surprised to learn that their cost-saving stratagems include slashing the company’s budget for new productions, media and administrative costs, while increasing pay to the orchestra.

One of the more intriguing analyses begins on Page 3 of the document, which quantifies reviews of various aspects of Met performances as “positive,” “mixed” and “negative.” You will perhaps not be completely flabbergasted to hear that, according to this methodoloy, over the eight years of Peter Gelb‘s administration of the Met, the orchestra received “81.5% positive reviews” and the productions received “61.1% negative reviews.” Since the implied conclusion is that compensation should be based how well reviewed everyone is, Our Own JJ wonders, based on his own critiques, whether Renee Fleming does not in fact owe the Met money.

But, as La Cieca says, that’s just idle speculation. Those of you with an analytical bent are hereby presented these PowerPoint slides I hereby endow you with them! Take them, peruse them—commit them to memory, even! I think it’s wonderfully fitting that the Met should finally be this bunch of old papers in your big, capable hands!

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