Published on : 24/09/2020 – 00:04Modified : 24/09/2020 – 00:02
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New York (AFP)
The Metropolitan Opera in New York announced Wednesday the cancellation of its 2020-21 season, due to a pandemic, a decision with colossal financial impact.
After consulting with public health officials, the opera house decided it would “not be safe for the Met to resume operations” until the coronavirus vaccine has been widely administered among the general public.
Authorities estimated it would take “at least five to six months” after the vaccine became available to everyone, according to a statement released Wednesday.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has still not authorized the resumption of indoor shows, regardless of the gauge.
The Met was one of the first major cultural institutions in the United States to cancel its entire season. In a delicate situation, Broadway still officially expects a restart in early 2021.
Asked by AFP, general manager Peter Gelb estimated that the Met was going through “the most difficult period” it has known in 137 years of existence.
The cancellation of the last eight weeks of the 2019-20 season and the entire following one is expected to result in a shortfall of $ 154 million, the executive revealed.
“Some see the Met as a historic monument, invulnerable,” said the man who has headed the opera for 14 years. “But it is clear that no institution is immune to financial failure.”
To survive, it will be necessary in particular “to reduce our overall costs”, indicated Peter Gelb.
About 1,000 full-time Met employees have been laid off since April. Peter Gelb on Wednesday appealed to unions to negotiate a new collective agreement, which would include wage cuts.
“If we can convince our people to contribute to the Met’s recovery, I will have much to be optimistic about,” said Peter Gelb.
“The Met seems determined to take advantage of this period to eviscerate our contracts and those of other unionized employees,” responded the union AGMA, which represents several categories of trades within the opera. With the proposed cuts, “the individual and family situation of our members would become financially untenable,” assured the union in a statement sent to AFP.
– “Influx” of donations –
This is yet another blow to an organization that has been struggling for several years to attract a younger audience and fill the 3,800 seats in its hall, one of the largest in the world.
The Met’s budget is substantial and reached, in 2018-19, $ 312 million.
Patronage and donations are the main source of income for the institution.
In this regard, Peter Gelb noted that, since the start of the pandemic, the Met had received an “influx” of donations, including 30,000 new donors.
To project itself into the future, the opera presented the calendar for the 2021-22 season on Wednesday.
The season will open with “Fire Shut Up in My Bones”, an opera composed by jazz musician Terence Blanchard, commissioned by the Met with the Opera Theater in Saint-Louis, where it has previously been presented.
The New York opera has included three contemporary works in its program, a first since the 1928-29 season.
As mentioned in June, the Met plans to bring the curtain up time for many performances and reduce the length of operas, “to meet the expectations of an audience that will be, at least initially, more cautious.” than usual given the pandemic.
© 2020 AFP
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