Will the Met Opera be bankrupt soon .....

[sutherland]

I'm sure many of you have heard of the Met's plan to sell its Chagall murals provided that the buyer will allow them to remain in the Met lobby. Who would agree to that?  Also, the endowment fund is below $200 million.  The other Met - the Metropolitan Museum of Art - has an endowment of several billion. and the Met Opera should have an endowment of a similar size if it hopes to survive.

[sydneyboy]

Depressing but a non uncommon situation for the world’s opera companies. Opera Australia is in a diabolical financial situation.

[sutherland]

14 hours ago, sydneyboy said:

Opera Australia is in a diabolical financial situation.

Does the Australian government subsidize Opera Australia in any way?  The Met Opera apparently gets very little money from our government; it relies on the generosity of wealthy benefactors. I read once that if the Met were to sell out every performance it would still only generate 50% of the annual budget.  The other 50% has to come from other sources.  The other problem is a lack of star singers willing to come to the USA.  If Cecilia Bartoli, Bryn Terfel, or Jonas Kaufman were on the Met roster it would be easier to sell tickets.

[sydneyboy]

8 hours ago, sutherland said:

Does the Australian government subsidize Opera Australia in any way?  The Met Opera apparently gets very little money from our government; it relies on the generosity of wealthy benefactors. I read once that if the Met were to sell out every performance it would still only generate 50% of the annual budget.  The other 50% has to come from other sources.  The other problem is a lack of star singers willing to come to the USA.  If Cecilia Bartoli, Bryn Terfel, or Jonas Kaufman were on the Met roster it would be easier to sell tickets.

The government does subsidise Opera Australia but with the demands on the public purse not to the extent many of us would like. The Covid lockdown period played havoc with OA’s finances and they had to sell property it owned to stave off bankruptcy.

Out of interest why are those named singers no longer singing at the Met? I’ve noticed they still get star singers eg Lise Davidsen as Isolde in the current season. I heard her in Don Carlo at Covent Garden a few years ago and she was fabulous. Is there a finer female singer in the world at present?

[sutherland]

21 minutes ago, sydneyboy said:

Out of interest why are those named singers no longer singing at the Met? I’ve noticed they still get star singers eg Lise Davidsen as Isolde in the current season. I heard her in Don Carlo at Covent Garden a few years ago and she was fabulous. Is there a finer female singer in the world at present?

I've heard that singers like Terfel and Kaufman are very family oriented and prefer to stay on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to be close to home.  Rehearsals and then a run of performances in NY would require a commitment of 5 weeks or more.  Cecilia Bartoli does not like to fly (she's said that in interviews) and she may get higher performance fees in Europe.  I have never heard Lise Davidsen sing live, but don't you think Cecilia Bartoli is the more important singer of the two? .... albeit singing very different repertoire.  On a side note, the finest female singer I ever heard in my entire life was Sydney's own Joan Sutherland.

[sydneyboy]

Just now, sutherland said:

I've heard that singers like Terfel and Kaufman are very family oriented and prefer to stay on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to be close to home.  Rehearsals and then a run of performances in NY would require a commitment of 5 weeks or more.  Cecilia Bartoli does not like to fly (she's said that in interviews) and she may get higher performance fees in Europe.  I have never heard Lise Davidsen sing live, but don't you think Cecilia Bartoli is the more important singer of the two? .... albeit singing very different repertoire.  On a side note, the finest female singer I ever heard in my entire life was Sydney's own Joan Sutherland.

Lise Daviden is one of the new generation of super star singers only in her late 30’s. The music director at the Met described her voice as one in a million. She recently sang Isolde in Barcelona to rave reviews. By the way she just gave birth to twins. She has a totally different voice type and repertoire to someone like Bartoli. I heard Joan many times in Sydney and I agree she was a great artist.