Met rumour: Gelb is being wooed by Lincoln Center

Met rumour: Gelb is being wooed by Lincoln Center

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norman lebrecht

June 02, 2016

There’s a whisper backstage that Peter Gelb may jump ship.

Lincoln Center is desperate to find a new president after the last one was dumped for promoting his lover.

Gelb is in ever-deepening mire at the Met. He has done ten years and run out of ideas.

What could be more convenient than a job switch?

At this stage, this is no more than canteen chat. But stranger things have happened.

Tribeca Talks After the Movie: "Wagner's Dream" - 2012 Tribeca Film Festival

Comments

  • Nick says:

    Unbelievable! Anyone considering such an appointment should first read Reynold Levy’s book “They told me not to take that Job”. Peter Gelb has as little experience to run such a massive complex as he had to run the Met!

  • Bennie says:

    BurgerKing is looking for store managers. Oh wait, Gelb isn’t qualify for that neither.

  • Save the MET says:

    Gelb’s changing Vladimir Horowitz’s diaper for a decade led to positions beyond his mental capacity. The Lincoln Center Board would be utterly insane to give him any leadership position. He can’t handle the one he has.

    • Marshall says:

      No fan of Gelb, but no fan of your comment.

      I’m glad he was Howowitz’s ass licker for 10 yrs. musically it was worth more than what he’s done at the Met.

      • Save the MET says:

        Not my point, his video job, his Horowitz job, the BSO job and even the Sony job, ill prepared Gelb to assume and handle the job he has today. He’s made such a mess of the Metropolitan Opera that he is ill suited to any leadership position. He’s a pretender with poor job skills.

    • Cyril Blair says:

      “The Lincoln Center Board would be utterly insane to give him any leadership position. He can’t handle the one he has.”

      Yes, but it’s so American to fail upwards. Just look at about half of American CEOs.

  • OhGlorioso says:

    Good. Then the MET can get Deborah Borda to come back to this coast and help Yannick and the MET grab the world’s operatic Brass Ring. Gelb can wallow for a couple years with the LC title then go the way of others in that position….away.

  • AMetFan says:

    Sadly, going on 67 in July, it is probably too late for a final harrah for Ms. Borda. Ten years ago, it should have been a no-brainer. Now, it would just be interim.

  • Richard says:

    Peter and his Principle lives on!

  • Marshall says:

    Hope it happens. !0 years in today’s world is time enough to try your ideas.

    Let’s see what someone else could do-God knows they need it.

    No strong opinion on Yannick-that good? But it is absurd that it will be essentially 5 more years before they have a fully engaged music director. You want to be the music director of the Met, shift your schedule. If Gelb leaves, maybe another arrangement can be found or another conductor

    • MWnyc says:

      “You want to be the music director of the Met, shift your schedule.”

      Yannick had a contract with the Philadelphia Orchestra from which the latter was disinclined to release him.

      And considering that Yannick has also extended his contract with the PhilOrch to 2026, he doesn’t want to be released.

      In this particular case, it seems to me that the Met needs – or at least wants – Yannick more than Yannick needs the Met. So the Met has to do the accommodating.

      (I think Noseda might have been a better choice overall, but Yannick will sell more tickets than Noseda, and the Met needs to sell more tickets.)

      • Marshall says:

        As I understood it the Phil commitment was not the problem-they even talk about how easy the commute is. Give everything else up but Phil-remember before illness intervened Levine was doing Boston and Met

        Thinking about it some more, it is truly crazy to have a gap of about 5 years-I didn’t know Yannick was such a big draw-is he? But no matter how popular he is, this is not going to help the Met-it needs it now.

  • Mark Henriksen says:

    Wouldn’t Michael Kaiser be a good candidate for this position?

    • MWnyc says:

      Michael Kaiser does not seem to want (and hasn’t for a number of years now) to run an large institution.

      While he might be perfectly happy to accept a large institution’s regular salary, his interest (as the end of his Kennedy Center tenure demonstrated) is very much in consulting.

  • AMetFan says:

    (for ohglorioso) That is what they say. It is also wishful thinking by those 67…and I am. You can freshen up the exterior, but the chassis is still 67. I am very healthy, fit, and all the rest for my age, but not for a 10 year (minimum) future commitment.

    That being my comment about Borda and the Met, a much better fit would be Deborah Borda as President of Lincoln Center. It is a different sort of pressure. And LC has almost the same leadership vacuum as the Met.

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