Peter Gelb: The 3x billionaires are no longer interested in the arts

Peter Gelb: The 3x billionaires are no longer interested in the arts

Opera

norman lebrecht

December 12, 2023

In an interview with the German gadfly Axel Brüggemann, the Metropolitan Opera’s general manager admits he no longer has access to the philanthropy of the super-rich.

‘The triple-digit billionaires are not so much interested in the arts,’ he sighs. ‘They don’t understand the arts as well as we wish they did.’

Gelb adds: ‘The audience for opera theatre have got even older, and our donors are fewer.’

The Met Opera’s movie business has been particularly badly hit.

‘Everyone was asleep at the wheel for the second half of te 20th century,’ he claims, denouncing his predecessors.

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