Belt, tightened
AGMA and Local 802 “have agreed to cut a little more than 7% of their members’ compensation during the first year of the four-year contract, growing to 7% in the second and third years.”
Metropolitan Opera
The mothership and mecca of opera in America—and home base for Parterre Box.
Overtime
UPDATE: The Met has reached tentative agreements with AGMA and Local 802. The contract deadline has been extended through midnight on Tuesday, August 19, to allow Local One and the other remaining unions with unsettled contracts more time to secure new deals with the institution.
The songs of La Bohème will live forever
Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin demonstrates the enduring quality of art with two performances of La Bohème four decades apart.
The sound of silence
This past week of contract negotiations at the Metropolitan Opera has been notable for the absence of any new PowerPoint presentations or fustian proclamations.
And all the rest is talk
“Labor! Oh, the problem of labor at the Met is gargantuan,” Our Own JJ (not pictured) would have said, had he thought of it.
Hello Amanda
Soprano Amanda Majeski will make her Met debut on the opening night of the 2014-2015 season as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, replacing Marina Poplavksaya “who has withdrawn for health reasons.”
Breaking apart
I guess we can assume the season is going to happen, because the cast changes are already starting, and the Met’s press office is on it, you guys.
Only connect…
La Cieca has discovered that the independent auditor chosen by the Met, AGMA and Local 802 to report on the company’s finances, Eugene Keilin, is a major donor to the Met, giving at least $25,000 in 2011-2012 according to that season’s Annual Report.
Namenlos in Lieb’ umfangen
SiriusXM is broadcasting right now a 1981 performance of Tristan und Isolde featuring Gwyneth Jones (pictured) and Spas Wenkoff, with James Levine conducting the work that season for the first time in his career.
Blood and Sandow
Friend and friend-in-law of parterre box Greg Sandow pours the oil of calm and rational analysis upon the troubled waters of the Met’s current labor negotiations in the most recent installment of his always excellent (not to mention eponymous) blog.
Back from the dead?
AGMA and Local 802 have agreed to the Met’s proposal that Allison Beck, a representative of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, be appointed immediately to mediate negotiations, working with both sides to find a compromise agreement.
Fun with graphs
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.
Séance on a partly cloudy afternoon
Your conduit to the spirit world, La Cieca, isn’t feeling quite as clairvoyante as usual today, cher public, so she’s going to ask your help in predicting what will happen in the course of the Met’s current labor negotiations.
A little list
In response to repeated urging by La Cieca, Our Own Dawn Fatale has contributed a “to do” list for the benefit of Met management, assuming the company makes it out of this summer alive.
The voice of the pundit
Our Own Dawn Fatale (artist’s conception) will take to the airwaves of Bloomberg Radio this evening at 9:00 pm to discuss the Met’s current woes.
Just got real
The Met’s administrative offices were vandalized this morning, with “obscene messages” sprayed “on some paintings and sculptures.”
The pit and the pendulum
“The award-winning MET Orchestra’s global reputation as a top-tier ensemble is critical to New York City’s tourism and cultural economy.”
West side non-story
La Cieca hears that the Met’s planned production of West Side Story in the 2017-2018 season has been shelved.
Gee, our old Chagalls hang great
It’s time to bring out the canard again, this time a whole row of them in fact.
Numbers game
The Met has released what the press office calls “background financial information” relevant to the company’s ongoing union negotiations.
The ladies in question
There is a truism that there are no small parts, only small singers. Last night’s Così fan tutte has made me consider another possible truism: there are no bad productions, only miscast productions.
Faites vos jeux, Messieurs!
The Met may be missing an angle calculated to appeal to the more adventurous attendee: opera as game of chance.
“Donors, Mama. They’re called donors, and every opera company has them.”
Peter Gelb talks about the “social rejection” of the Met.
Change partners
Your doyenne is sure all the familiar faces and screen names will be present at 1:00 this afternoon in La Casa della Cieca, as the Met broadcasts Così fan tutte.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).