After consultation with public health authorities, the opera house decided that it would not be not sure for the Met to resume its activities
until the vaccine against the coronavirus has been widely administered in the population.
The authorities estimated that 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.
Peter Gelb, who runs the Met, explained that surveys of the Met’s public show that it will take time
so that opera attendance returns to pre-pandemic levels.
Heavy financial consequences
The inability to produce weighs very heavily on our organization
, explained Peter Gelb, quoted in the press release. To survive, it will take in particular overall reduce our costs
, he added, without further clarification.
The Met’s budget is considerable and reached, in 2018-2019, 312 million US dollars. However, box office receipts only represent a minority share of revenue, at US $ 85 million in 2018-2019.
Patronage and donations are the main source of income for the establishment. At the beginning of June, the Met had already postponed the start of its 2020-2021 season to the end of December, and canceled productions ofAïda and of Angel of fire.
Three contemporary operas for the 2021-2022 season
To project itself into the future, the opera presented the calendar for the 2021-2022 season on Wednesday. The season will open on 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 already been presented.
New York opera has included three contemporary works in its program, a first since the 1928-1929 season.
As discussed in June, the Met plans to bring the curtain up time for many of its performances forward 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.
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