The company’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, urged the Metropolitan Opera to compensate its artists “appropriately” and on Thursday sent a letter to the Met’s directors saying that the many months that orchestras and Choruses that were unpaid during the pandemic were “increasingly unacceptable.”
He sent the letter when the Met musicians were due to receive their first partial paychecks since they were on leave in April. Before this week, they had been the last major ensemble in the country to fail to reach an agreement on at least some wage during the pandemic. When Nézet-Séguin addressed the players’ almost year-long vacation – and pointed to the tough negotiations ahead in which the Met is seeking long-term wage cuts from its unionized employees – he did something rare for a music director: weighing up labor issues.
“Of course I understand that this is a complex situation,” wrote Nézet-Séguin, “but as the public face of the Met on a musical level, I find it increasingly difficult to justify what happened.”
The letter was received by the New York Times and approved by its recipients, including Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager; the heads of the negotiating committees representing the choir and orchestra; and members of the board of directors of the opera.
“We risk losing talent permanently,” warned Nézet-Séguin in the letter. “The orchestra and choir are our crown jewels and they must be protected. Their talent is the Met. The Met artists are the institution. “
The orchestra committee has announced that 10 out of 97 members have retired during the pandemic because the ensemble was not paid. This is a significant increase from two to three who retire in an average year.
“Safeguarding the Met’s long-term future is inextricably linked to these musicians’ loyalty and respect for their livelihood, income and well-being,” wrote Nézet-Séguin.
The Met said in a statement that “we share Yannick’s frustration with the lengthy shutdown and the impact it has on our employees,” adding that the company was pleased that its orchestra, choir, and others were now receiving bridge pay. The Met said that all parties “are working together on new agreements that will ensure the Met’s sustainability in the future”.
The Met, the country’s largest performing arts organization, has said it has lost an estimated $ 150 million in revenue since the pandemic that forced it to close its doors and like many other arts institutions it has lost wage cuts aspired to their workers. The Met has tried to cut wages for its highest-paid unions by 30 percent – the take-away pay change would be closer to 20 percent according to its own statements – and has offered to restore half of the cuts in ticket receipts and core donations are returning prandemic level back.
Months after the vacation, the Met partially offered its workers paychecks if they agreed to these cuts, but the unions resisted. At the end of the year, the Met temporarily offered partial paychecks to simply return to the negotiating table. Members of the American Guild of Musical Artists, representing choir members, dancers, and others, were inducted in late January and have been receiving paychecks for more than a month. The orchestra musicians voted for the offer this week. (The Met locked out their stagehands, whose contracts expired last year.)
Nézet-Séguin wrote in his letter that he was relieved that both the musicians and the choir members were now being paid, but added that “this is just a start”. The deal calls for temporary payments of up to $ 1,543 per week, less than half what musicians typically receive.
Nézet-Séguin was named Music Director of the Met in 2016 when he was won over to succeed James Levine, who led the company for four decades (Mr Levine, who retired to a retired position for health reasons and was then fired two years later after one Investigation into allegations of sexual abuse, died earlier this month.)
“I beg the trustees of this incredible house to urgently help find a solution to adequately compensate our artists,” wrote Nézet-Séguin. “We all recognize the economic and other challenges the Met is facing, so I ask for empathy, honesty and open communication throughout this process.”
