Negotiations

The Met Has A Tentative Deal, What Happens Next?

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Although it took all parties working through the night, it appears that the Metropolitan Opera (Met) and two of its three largest unions, American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and American Federation of Musicians (AFM), managed to reach a tentative four year agreement around 6:15am ET on 8/18/14. Although details have yet to emerge, internal sources indicate that the deal was reached thanks to the Met abandoning its zero sum bargaining …

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A Quick Pointer

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Just a quick pointer today over to the audio from yesterday’s WQXR podcast, Conducting Business. I posted it so late in the day that a number of readers apparently missed it but fear not, it’s up and running inside yesterday’s post plus you can go right to the source at the WQXR website. In addition to a streaming copy of the program, you will find some after-the-fact thoughts on the potential …

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Talking Met On WQXR

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Update: the segment is now live! I had the pleasure of taking part in a panel discussion for WQXR’s bi-weekly podcast Conducting Business, hosted by Naomi Lewin, to talk about the Metropolitan Opera’s ongoing labor negotiations. My fellow panelists included: James Jorden, editor of the opera blog Parterre Box and a contributor to the New York Observer. Lois S. Gray, a Professor Emeritus of Labor Management Relations Emeritus at Cornell University. [ilink url=”http://www.wqxr.org/story/how-solve-met-labor-dispute-three-views/”]Or listen via the WQXR website.[/ilink] One …

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Risk, Return, And Responsibility: An Opera In One Unnatural Act

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The 8/6/2014 edition of New York Times published an article by Anthony Tommasini titled “Let’s Talk About Risk at the Metropolitan Opera” and from a perspective limited purely to the confines of traditional music criticism, it’s a pretty good article. Regrettably, that’s one of the least useful perspectives to evaluate risk as it applies to the business of arts so it seems poignant to take a moment to expand the conversation. …

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The Met Is Getting A Second Opinion

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A coloratura goes to a psychiatrist complaining about mental stress from a string of bad reviews. The doctor says, “You’re crazy.” The coloratura says, “I want a second opinion” so the doctor tells her “Okay, you really should have been a lyric soprano!” Speaking of second opinions, the Metropolitan Opera’s (Met) mediation has produced an interesting byproduct in the form of a mutually agreed upon independent examination of the organization’s financial …

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