And You Thought NYCO Was In Trouble: Italian Opera Companies Swimming In An Ocean Of Red

It's murder by numbers in Italy's troubled opera houses. The numbers have been made public earlier today, and it isn't pretty.

Teatro Comunale di Bologna will close the 2008 season with a 5 million euro loss; in Venice, La Fenice is down 2 million; Carlo Felice in Genoa and Arena di Verona are both in receivership; and in Naples, the San Carlo has just gotten out of another receivership.

Italy's thirteen "fondazioni liriche" are sweating bullets. Especially now that public money will dry up -- the Berlusconi government, via its Minister of Culture, has announced that government funding will drop by 17%. Even financially-healthy Opera di Roma and Scala in Milan and Palermo, currently in the black, could then begin hurting.

La Scala's case is an illuminating one: the Milanese opera house has a huge budget, 105 million euros in 2007, 34 millions of which (there were 38 in 2008) are part of the central government's financing package that will be cut down, in 2009, to "only" 29 million. The City of Milan gives an additional 6 million, other province and county government entities (good luck figuring out how the Italians technically run their country, the Italians themselves have long ago given up on this) give some more money and, in the end, la Scala can count on 40% of its budget to be taken care of by the government, in its various forms.

The remaining 60% of course must come from ticket sales and sponsors (among the sponsors there are many corporations owned at least in part by the government, so, again, this means that la Scala survives on government handouts for more than half of its ginormous budget). Most of la Scala's expenses, interestingly, come from the monthly paychecks of their 729 full-time workers + 150 part timers, all heavily unionized (as la Scala's frequent strikes painfully demonstrate). The 2008-2009 season that begins on December 7 with Daniele Gatti conducting Don Carlo (unions willing) will mark an increase in ticket prices of +10%. The effect of the pricing spike on attendance numbers, obviously, remains to be seen.

Arena in Verona is in receivership and its "commissario", Salvo Nastasi, is also the chief of staff of the Minister of Culture and the former "commissario" of San Carlo di Napoli. Arena suffers from total losses of 8.4 million euros in the past two seasons. Arena has 375 full time workers, and 825 part time workers for the summer season for a total cost of 30 million euros a year.

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino has been in receivership for six months in 2005-2006 and since Feb 2006, the general manager is Francesco Giambrone. In 2007, Maggio Musicale made 39.6 million euros (21.3 from Rome, 3 from the City of Florence, 1.9 from Toscana region, 3.7 from the board of trustees, 3.1 from ticket sales, 15,000 from various sponsors). But in the same year they spent 41.5 millions (26.7 for worker wages and 8.7 for productions. The workers are 483 (374 of them fulltime).

Thankfully, at least Opera di Roma under General Manager Francesco Ernani -- in place since 1999 -- is doing good and is solidly in the black: the workers are 630, costing the company an average of 55,400 euros a year. A single night's show costs the company on average 70,188 euros. The government gives Opera di Roma about 27 million euros a year. The much-awaited event of this 2008 coda will be, on December 4, Riccardo Muti conducting Verdi's Otello.

Comments

[Victor]

They raise prices before cutting all expenditures that can be cut without damaging the artistic value of the company? La Scala's managers can't seriously trim a bit of fat off a US$ 130,000,000 budget? Please.

[CrewMantle]

This is such an incredibly difficult topic to deal with....

Commenting on a note to this blog last year from Signor Ernani regarding government funding, I noted that Italy owns an extraordinarily diverse cultural heritage of which opera is but one part. This makes it difficult for Italy which is not a large country, to spread what wealth it has fairly.

All that in mind, even the provincial houses in Italy have global reputations that rival the second tier international houses. Who is not familiar with the Carlo Felice, the Verona Arena, the San Carlo? Does one automatically think opera when the city Nice is mentioned? Are these theaters not equal in glamour as say, Vienna in the minds of even the most casual opera mavens? Who would'nt turn down a seat at the Vienna Staatsoper if a loge became available at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino?

Still, Signor Ernani has shown what can be done. A mindful G M of any house, anywhere, should take heart that this art form is very much alive given the Rome example.

Its just a question of how its done.

With great skill... not gimmicks.

[Miguel]

And think that Morty threw a fit over 36 million clams! Cheap!

[Kevin Edmund Youkilis 4 MVP]

Who's running those theaters, George Bush?

[Michelle O]

Kevin Edmund Youkilis 4 MVP: Have you heard of a thing called UNION?!

Yeh, Bush caused all the troubles in the world! Oh, eveything is and will be Bush's fault. The theatres in Italy are mostly run by the likes of Nancy Pelosi.

[Les Mitchell]

The economy these days is such that we will be lucky if ANY opera doesn't fold. General Motors is sinking, Starbucks is in trouble --- what next???? One thing for sure: Mr. Obama has has work cut out for him.