It’s looking more and more likely that the labor dispute between the New York City Opera (NYCO) and its singers and orchestra musicians is going to consume the entire organization. In a last ditch effort to get the current season underway as scheduled, mediated negotiations proved unsuccessful and all parties came out swinging in the press after talks broke down.
New York City Opera
So Much Drama
Although we don’t follow the comings and goings of the opera field very much, it’s high time to take a peek at what’s going on right now at the New York City Opera (NYCO). The beleaguered arts organization is on its tippy toes staring down into the precipice that is institutional oblivion following a prolonged and very nasty labor feud with a number of its resident artist unions.
I’ll Have What Mortier’s Having
Did you catch the 5/20/2010 edition of Bloomberg where Phillip Boroff reported that the New York City Opera paid Gerard Mortier a $335,000 severance package even though he never took over as the full time General Manager? Moreover, Boroff reports that Mortier regularly flew first-class on Air France for City Opera business. Granted, Mortier certainly negotiated his contract at what we now know was the height of the economic bubble but those are some awfully good terms…