A second head rolls in New York
mainAs the Met prepared to roll out news of James Levine’s demission, Lincoln Center decided it was a good moment to announce the departure of its president Jed Bernstein, after less than two years in the job.
At a time when the Center is facing a half-billion-dollar renovation of its concert hall, this might appear to be a disaster. But word in the corridors is that Bernstein was not getting on with his chairperson, Katherine Farley, and the board felt it was better if they were all singing off the same sheet.
Bernstein was formerly a commercial producer on Broadway.
Anyone care to apply for the vacancy?
Your timing is off. LC announced first, then thr Met. There’s no indication these are related, or planned together.
The Met tipped media off an hour earlier that they were going to announce
And from my understanding, the LC announcement was about three hours before the Met. At least by what I was seeing on Twitter during the day.
Au contraire, there are at least two clear indications that the two events may be closely related: date and address.
Hey, I hear Jeff Melanson is available – and he’s fantastic. Just ask him!
LIKE
One thing they will learn the hard way is that hall renovations are very expensive and have limited impact. Most halls aren’t ideal for all of the orchestral repertoire. If that money had gone towards musicians’ salaries – not only would all the repertoire sound better, they could take that better group to other halls. That’s a lesson too for London – as long as players have adequate backstage facilities – just leave it and improve the ensemble instead (and restore as necessary). If people can get emotionally involved in a space (and it might be with a visiting orchestra) – that’s sort of a cue to leave the hall alone.
The NY Phil and Lincoln Center are two separate financial entities. Ironically, the Phil pays rent to play in its own hall, originally termed Philharmonic Hall when first built. Further, the Phil is expected to pay for half the Hall’s renovation.
The musicians’ contract is negotiated with NYPO management, not Lincoln Center.
Besides NYMike’s excellent points, the musicians of the New York Philharmonic are paid quite well enough, especially by UK standards.
As of this September, base pay for a New York Philharmonic musician will be $146,848 (currently £103,348).
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/arts/music/deal-gives-philharmonic-musicians-modest-gains.html
http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2014/jun/26/orchestra-salaries-higher-in-america-than-uk
It’s much easier to raise money for shiny new (or newly-renovated) buildings, than for anything so prosaic as salaries for the people who are the raison d’être for the buildings’ existence….
I know someone who knows Jed Bernstein and was surprised that JB took the Lincoln Center job in the first place. He wasn’t kidding when he told the NYT that what he really loves to do is produce theater.
And yes, if you can’t get along with your board chairman, you won’t last long in your CEO job.