Opera sacks chief exec to save cash
mainOpera Carolina has made chief executive Beth Hansen redundant after failing to secure enough public funding to pay a boss.
It called the move ‘a result of a harsh economic climate for the arts and a possible reduction in fiscal year 2021 support from the Arts & Science Council.’
It’s rare in opera for the axe to fall first on the head.
Much better than what they just did in the Czech Republic where the management of the Silesian Opera in Opava has just fired the entire staff of full-time singers.
https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10122978233-udalosti-v-regionech-ostrava/420231100030203-udalosti-v-regionech/obsah/748153-propusteni-operni-solisti-v-opave?fbclid=IwAR20QWMMw9-pWd7d-7bQ7US8Ci57OKL7qYAg-SUE9aU_FRQ3d6RTgXfvH_k
EXACTLY the way it should be. Produce or die.
The stupidity of boards of directors never ceases to amaze me. You fire someone who is responsible for RAISING money in order to save money? Furthermore, if they were so tremendously dependent on support from just one agency — which, although a private agency is highly dependent on local government funding — then this company has been mismanaged for a long time. Shame on them all.
How unfortunate. This is a lovely little company. Here’s hoping things turn around for them.
The management of Lyric Opera of Chicago should do the same. The failure of the General Director with his huge salary has been unable for the last two years in obtaining funding for its radio broadcasts. And for years, Lyric was ” in the black”. Sadly those who run the company now are failing the opera company.