OperaWire: The company’s General manager Peter Gelb told the New York Times that he was forced to take these steps due to concerns with the Saudi Arabia deal, under which the Saudis agreed to subsidize the Met in exchange for the company performing at the Royal Diriyah Opera House near Riyadh three weeks each winter. He added that although he remained confident that the deal would happen, his decision to make cuts was due to concerns about the future of the Saudi arrangement.
1 comment:
I am glad to have read this as someone who was looking at an internship position there. Though I know the Met Opera is a commercial theatre, this shows that they are really about the money when making this deal with Saudi Arabia. I think that is is really interesting that they are making this deal and would think that they would have thought about doing it a year later rather than postponing the current season. The idea of laying people and selling painting for multiple millions of dollars is interesting seems how this deal is supposed to bring money in. I could understanding laying off a few, but over twenty is a little wild. I obviously don’t have the budget and funding in front of me, so I can’t say how much they need, but if they are having to get together more money than they have in there funds then I personally don;t think the deal is worth it. I’m acting as though they care what I think. This just shows that money is at core of some businesses values rather than the community of the company.
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