Exclusive: Munich won’t pay opera singers for the next two months
OperaAll guest artists at Bavarian State Opera have received a letter saying they will not be paid from mid December until February. Their contracts state that they must be paid monthly in arrears.
Guest singers are in the early stage of organizing a walkout if the Staatsoper does not pay as agreed. Delayed payments are common in Italy, but not Germany. Artist managers have simply been told, “Everyone knows you don’t get paid over Christmas in Munich.” Rehearsal fees, which are meant to cover living expenses, will not be seen until more than a month after the productions are finished.
The music business is beginning to wonder whether Bavarian State Opera, under the management of the Belgian Serge Dorny (pictured), is in some kind of financial crisis.
Here the text of the letter:
hiermit möchten wir Sie darüber in Kenntnis setzen, dass aufgrund des Jahresabschlusses 2023 Zahlungen für nach dem Buchungsschluss am 15. Dezember 2023 erbrachte Leistungen erst Anfang Februar 2024 möglich sind.
Wir wünschen Ihnen und Ihrer Familie besinnliche Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr.
Dear guests,
Please be aware that the closing deadline of our current fiscal period for 2023 will be December 15th, 2023. All payments of services rendered after December 15th, 2023 will not be made until the beginning of February 2024.
We wish you and your families a peaceful and merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards, Dr. Roland Schwab
UPDATE: Dr Schwab says it’s not their fault:
Dear Mr. Lebrecht,
The reason why it is impossible to settle guest engagements in full for some time at the end of every calendar year is not due to the Bayerische Staatsoper, but to the fact that payments are processed via the Bavarian State Treasurer’s Office (For your information the Bayerische Staatsoper is a government agency). This problem has unfortunately existed for at least the past 10 years. Every year a similar letter is send out to inform all concerned about this problem. I can only assume that most guests who regularly perform at the Bayerische Staatsoper are aware of this.
Every year we deal with this unfortunate situation as follows: Performances up to and including 17 December 2023 are billed in advance. To help artists who are affected by the delayed payment deadline are also welcome to contact the financial services, in an attempt to find a reasonable and acceptable solution.
Dr. Roland Schwab (Administrative and Financial Director of Bayerische Staatsoper):
I bet Dorny is getting paid. His expense account too.
This payment situation is nothing new. I have previously experienced it whilst working at the Bayerische Staatsoper as a guest. It is an extraordinary and unwelcome inconvenience.
As a rule, but not specifically mentioned in a guest contract, any work or services performed before the 21st day of the month are remunerated in that calendar month’s salary payment, which usually follows before the end of the calendar month. However, as the tax year in Germany is January to December, payment for services rendered in December are for accounting purposes deferred until January or even February. Payments are made by a separate Bavarian state government agency in Passau, not München, which requires the payment information earlier in December for processing that month. Otherwise payments are deferred until January’s end at the earliest.
Except the payments aren’t being deferred until January, they are being deferred until February, so all work done in December and January is unpaid until February. If this was a tax thing, they could pay all December payments at the very end of December or at the beginning of January, which would solve the problem. I know Martin and I have worked ,and am currently working, at Bayerische Staatsoper. This delayed payment never occurred during my pre-pandemic contracts in Munich, which leads me to believe that this is definitely something which could be changed if they desired to. I for one don’t want to put my name on record because I wish to continue working here. Singers have zero rights unfortunately.
Nothing “freundlich” about those “Grüßen”.
Do we know if that is, indeed, standard practice at the Staatsoper? And if so, why they didn’t put it in the contracts?
And how they expect people to chill for two months with no income?
“ We wish you and your families a peaceful and merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,” but we won’t pay you until February. I wonder whether they are not paying the orchestra, the chorus, or the ensemble singers. That would be a strike waiting to happen. How embarrassing for a company like Bayerische Staatsoper, particularly coming off a labor dispute in which they were forced to do a Barber essentially in concert without a set.
Whatever the rules of tax year, delayed payments to artists mean that they are effectively subbing the Opera , as they have bills for hotels or rented appartments , food , travel during the rehearsal period and performances, in addition to bills to pay back home.
As a sub is a kind of loan perhaps they should receive an extra percentage as interest for the delay? No chance of that ofcourse!
Artists need to know exactly where they stand before signing the contract however illustrious the institution.
Yup. If the opera knows they cannot pay on time as per contracts, they should pay in advance for those performances and deal with any adjustments afterwards. They cause the problem, they shoulder the inconvenience.
This is hardly anything new. 15-20 years ago, visiting music staff were regularly waiting two months + to be paid, during which time they ran up significant subsistence costs, leaving them permanently in arrears. The techies went in strike so artists had those performance fees deducted from their pay. People on monthly salaries don’t seem to realise that freelancers often have two sets of costs (at home and on the road) and dependents so being paid on time is vital.
Honestly, it’s a huge problem. I understand the house has a specific structure and government logistics in play, but paying artists a month and a half later for the work they’re doing isn’t cutting it. This isn’t Italy.
This is the kind of situation Elisabeth Kulman spent so much time and effort challenging and it’s dispiriting to see a house of Munich’s stature being so cavalier with its temporary employees. Wherever I’ve worked as a freelancer, beit in South America, France or Venice, I’ve never had to wait more than two weeks for the money to hit my account. And yes, they all have the rule concerning the 21st if the month, as this was always explained to me when I started working there. Some even take care of travel and accommodation ahead of time and give you your per diem in cash when you arrive.
Great counterexamples. Ah but it’s easier to say “the computer won’t let me process the payment” like it’s the computer and not the human that makes the choices here (both the choice to introduce the hurdle and the choice to not fix it). I’d be embarrassed to use that excuse out loud.
They may have whatever technical/bureaucratic explanations (always convenient to blame a faceless “treasurer’s office” like the humans who operate these things have no agency or free will) but they can’t be so aloof or callous not to understand that artists need their salaries to pay their living expenses. Either pay them upfront or don’t have any rehearsals or productions after the cutoff date. Don’t just assume people “will find a way” to make ends meet for a month or two. ***The excuse that “it’s always been like that” doesn’t make it sensible.*** (I wonder if house staff and all other government employees also go unpaid for several weeks.)
Mr Lebrecht: surely you should have changed the headline and might have graciously apologised for suggesting the company might be “in some kind of financial crisis”.
I can’t speculate on the financial crisis, but what is wrong with the headline? They aren’t paying singers for two months. Seems accurate to me. Currently there are strike signs outside of the theater, although I don’t know whether this is related or not. It would seem that every opera company is in some sort of financial crisis after the pandemic, so this is hardly a reckless comment to make. #PayTheArtists
I spoke to the Bayerische Staatsoper about this article. They responded immediately:-
This is insane.
It is the same procedure in Munich since I have been in the business, where they close the state controlling office mid-month and pay the rest of the fees in February. Norman is a moron.
James, this is factually untrue. Everyone is paid during December, January, and February EXCEPT the guest artists, so they could in fact choose to pay the performers. The chorus, ensemble, orchestra, stage crew, music staff, etc all are getting paid as normal. Also, pre-covid I worked here over the new year and had no issue with getting paid. If this was simply about the government then nobody would be getting paid. Can you imagine regular workers in Munich being told to still work their jobs, but not receiving their paychecks???? Nobody would come to work because it’s simply not fair. If they tried this with the orchestra or the chorus, there would be no performances, but they feel like they can push the guest artists around like we are clueless.
If you want to blame it on some sort of tax year, then you need to pay the performers up front and/or state the altered payment schedule up front. All of our contracts have the payment schedule clearly laid out and it says payment is made every month for the month before. You can’t ask people to perform for two months and then receive their payments a month, or in some cases two months, after they have left. On the most basic level, this is a violation of the contracts they made with us. The Bayerische Staatsoper is currently under threat of strikes because they haven’t restored covid cuts for the crew even with severe inflation, so yes I do think the Bayerische Staatsoper is having actual financial difficulties.
They are trying to spin this to make it sound like their hands are tied and there is nothing they can do, but actually this Slipped Disc article resulted in the finance department agreeing to come to a resolution with singers on an individual basis. Last week several of our managers were told there was nothing they can do. Now that Norman published this, they are now saying they can pay us advances. This was not the case a few days ago and I have the emails to prove it as I am working here currently and have been involved with the discussions. The singers were in fact discussing stopping work if this wasn’t resolved. So, thank you Norman for posting this. It is in fact factually accurate and not at all clickbait to draw attention to a situation where performers are getting treated in a way that no other industry could get away with.
I suggest James Kaye puts himself in our shoes and consider working for a month or two and waiting to be paid for two months following the job while still having to pay for travel, housing, and living expenses all while paying for our families and normal expenses at our actual homes.
And I have to post this anonymously because artistic directors are fickle and anyone who speaks out gets blacklisted. People like Norman are the only avenue that gives us power to fix these situations.
Thank you for posting this. Glad to hear there’s progress. It goes to show that there was in fact something they could do to change the situation all along – rather than dig their heels on “but we’ve always done the wrong thing, why stop now?” like the statement Mr. Schwab sent. Pausing and reflecting on how to fix ***manmade*** problems is what administrators do – rather than pretend it’s just what it is and they’re powerless.
Still doesn’t make it ok.
Doing something stupidly every year doesn’t make it less stupid or harmful. The most pathetic defense.
This all seems like a bureaucratic mess by whatever inept government division deals with this. I in no way think this is Serge Dorny’s fault or Herr Schwab. I do think the two of them could probably resolve this if they wanted to, but I imagine they have bigger fish to fry than concerning themselves with what is surely a tiny number of guest artists performing in December/January. We aren’t talking hundreds of singers. I have a friend currently working there and she said that she was told the administration said there was nothing they could do, so I’m surprised to read that Herr Schwab said in his response to Norman that they are willing to work with the singers to come up with a solution. I would say that is good faith progress out of a less than ideal situation and possibly only because they are being publicly shamed. All things considered, two months isn’t that long. Certainly less than the years it takes for some other other houses to pay in Europe.
This post has it all:
– absolving the people in charge of any responsibility
– at the same time praising them for finding a solution (only after public pushback, make no mistake)
– dismissiveness of the artists (“a tiny number of guest artists”; “bigger fish to fry”)
– callousness firmly grounded on the fact that the poster is not the one not getting paid (“All things considered, two months isn’t that long”)
Welcome to the bleak world of “I’ve got mine, go pound sand”.
More of the usual nonsense in this business. Such dreadful governance. Pay workers, on time, for their services.