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The Metropolitan Opera suspended the employment of much of its staff, including its musicians and chorus, in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown. The sobering news comes as nearly every facet of arts and entertainment shuts down, with audiences forced to stay inside and artists themselves fighting the spread of the deadly virus. The Met …
The Metropolitan Opera suspended the employment of much of its staff, including its musicians and chorus, in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown.
The sobering news comes as nearly every facet of arts and entertainment shuts down, with audiences forced to stay inside and artists themselves fighting the spread of the deadly virus. The Met let go of most of its unionized staff this week for the the rest of their season, which was set to end May 9.
A Met spokesperson tells The Post that the employees will still receive health benefits and will get their jobs back once performances resume in September.
The Met, whose 2019 budget was $312 million, is reportedly the nation’s single largest performing arts organization. Five days ago, citing the “safety and security of our audiences and employees” in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, it canceled all rehearsals and performances through March 31. Opera lovers were told that the value of their tickets for the canceled March 14 performance of “Così Fan Tutte” would be credited to their Met Opera account.
On Monday, the Met announced that it would stream its “Live in HD” broadcasts free nightly through its website, MetOpera.org, to keep the music alive.
“Next week’s schedule of transmissions is all Wagner, with fitting themes of destruction and redemption,” said Met manager Peter Gelb.
The company has long run on a deficit. A post on the Middle-class Artist website, penned by tenor Zach Finkelstein, said the company informed its contracted soloists that they wouldn’t be paid through the closure.
