Three news articles provide financial updates on the Metropolitan Opera, San Diego Opera, and the recently closed New York City Opera. In Monday’s (7/7) New York Times, Michael Cooper analyzes the Metropolitan Opera management’s proposed changes to work rules for members of the company, where fifteen of sixteen union contracts are set to expire at the end of July. For the Met chorus, Cooper writes, “The work-rule changes probably would … cut take-home pay in the neighborhood of 17 percent…. But … proposed cuts to the pension benefits … would go deeper. By one calculation the average pension reductions would be 22.8 percent if all chorus members worked to retirement age, but some junior singers would face reductions of more than twice that much.” Edith Honan’s Monday (7/7) Reuters story reports that the New York City Opera—which is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings—received an offer six months ago from businessman Gene Kaufman to buy the company for an undisclosed sum. “The opera’s board … has said in court papers it has received five proposals…. A hearing has been scheduled for July 16.” The San Diego Opera, which announced this spring that it was shutting down, has instead trimmed its annual operating budget to approximately $10.5 million, down from about $15 million, reports David Ng in Monday’s (7/7) Los Angeles Times. The company “will have a 2015 season consisting of three mainstage productions, down from four in recent years. The company has raised several million dollars through crowdfunding and other efforts.”
Posted July 8, 2014
