Ruthless Deborah Rutter says she’s taking no pay

Ruthless Deborah Rutter says she’s taking no pay

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norman lebrecht

March 29, 2020

Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter has told the Washington Post that she’s giving up her $1.2 million salary for the duration. ‘My hope is that these circumstances don’t last forever, but I’m going to be a realist,’ she said.

Her players will get no pay from the end of this week and no health cover from the end of May.

‘It’s a leadership issue,’ she said. ‘This is what a leader does.’

The WP did not press her further.

Rutter’s decision is the most brutal yet in America’s Darwinian musical environment and it comes after President Trump pumped an emergency $25 million into the Kennedy Center.

She has not communicated directly with the musicians.

Meantime, we hear President Trump took a call last week from a lobbyist for the League of American Orchestras.

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