Peter Gelb fails to get the Met cuts he wants

Details are being published of the Met’s much-hailed new agreement with AGMA, the chorus and dancers union, and it’s not looking good for Peter Gelb’s boast of making significant savings.

The headline figures:

Pay for non-soloist singers and dancers will be reduced by up to 3.7 percent until July 2024.

Designated soloists will lose 6% on fees up to $6,000 and 8% on fees from $6-10k.

This is a limited saving since those at the upper end of this scale will be represented by agents who make sure they do not lose out. The gain for Gelb is tiny.

Above $10,000, where Gelb claims to have achieved a 9-12% cut, were are talking of major artists all of whom are agented and none would agree to such terms.

In sum, the AGMA deal is a damp squib for the Met.

And Gelb has yet to make any headway at all in his dealing with the orchestra and stagehands.