Met choristers receive $1,668 aid
mainFundraising by the Met Chorus Artists Inc has raised half a million dollars for dancers, choreographers, soloists, chorus members, stage managers, staff performers and stage directors who have received no wages during Covid.
The window to apply for a grant closed on July 31 and, on August 15th, the charity began issuing grants to eligible Artists. In total, over 300 Artists will receive $1,668.
“Our success is a testament not only to the amazing support and love of our fans, but also the solidarity in the face of unprecedented difficulty in our industry shown by all Met Artists,” said Ned Hanlon, Chorus Committee Chair and recipient of a grant. “This grant could not have come at a better time. Like so many Artists, I’ve been forced to relocate from New York and am still struggling to make rent payments. This gives me the financial and emotional boost to keep going through this difficult time.”
That’s not much, when one considers they make almost $300,000 a year (after overtime). Plus health insurance
The Met Chorus earns a lot, but $300,000 is an overstatement. Hyperbole in this case is not helpful.
At least it’s something positive for them. Too bad it couldn’t be ten times as much, which is probably a big chunk of their lost wages.
What about the orchestra?
Another example of American exceptionalism. We now have some of the highest paid unemployed people in the world.
How much money has the Metropolitan Opera Board committed in direct financial assistance to their coveted singers particularly after their most recent fundraiser?
Of course they are not just watching all of the suffering and being inactive, right?!?!
Met choristers, with their six-figure incomes, have no business singing the blues. Many people in Manhattan work full-time jobs and earn less than $50k per year. Let us all look at Ned Hanlon’s income vs. his expenses and we’ll see where he is erring
“I’ve been forced to relocate from New York and am still struggling to make rent payments”
The MET’s emergency fundraiser in April should have helped their people.
How much did they each get from that??
I can’t believe that the average even full time choir member makes $300,000. If they did then they would not need these small grans My guess would be around $70000 with benefits, maybe even less, before taxes
Gelb boasts that he has raised over 60 million through these free nightly internet videos. Has any of that money gone to help unemployed staff?
NO.
Gelb and the MET board haven’t lifted one selfish finger to help “their own”.
They’re all too busy playing the “victim card” to the gullible masses.
This is a quotation from an article in the New York Times over 6 years ago:
The Met says it must reduce labor costs, which account for two-thirds of its expenses, to stay afloat. It says the proposed changes would mean that the singers, who earned an average of $200,000 each last season, would earn about $170,000.
Meanwhile, a public school music teacher who makes less than 100K a year is “overpaid.”