Recession Pete

Bloomberg sez:

Peter Gelb earned $1.5 million in his second year as general manager of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, according to the company’s tax return for the year ending in July 2008.

(via ArtsJournal)

Comments

[Laurie]

and they want us to take a pay cut....

[B. B. Bruckner]

Shameless.

[A Real Cad]

There go the Chagalls.

[Puck Swami]

That $1.5M salary seems like a bargain given the global stature of the Met and the incredible level of compexities that he must manage and grow in his job. Gelb makes less making less than a utility infielder on the Mets, or a decent Columbia Presbyterian heart surgeon, or a very average investment banker. Yet his job is one that very few people are really qualified to do, and he's doing it very well. For introducing the Met in HD alone, he is lifting up not the Met, but the entire world of Opera to new channels of access and excitement.

He's earned every nickel of it.

[Les Mitchell]

I have to agree with Puck Swami. Peter Gelb has brought the Met into the HD era via TV; he's made legendary Met broadcasts available via Sirius; he's made the Met a lot more accessible to all of us. While I agree that times are bad, I think that Gelb's accomplishments have been such that they have brightened all of our opera loving lives. I think he deserves it.

[Kevin Edmund Youkilis 4 MVP]

Then Les and Puck should join Gelb in his future meetings with the unions, where they will explain why the nobodies who work at the Met have to take very painful pay cuts to finance Gelb's salary. He has global stature and they don't, right? So they should take the pay cuts, move to smaller apartments if they can't make the rent anymore, and thank him for his accomplishments.

I'm sure that it will end well. Report back!

[Coloratura Tempura]

Srsly? The AFL-CIO is going to love this.

[Linda Smith]

Is that all? With all the divas and divos he has to deal with:)?

[Chris B]

I'm shocked it's that low for the tax year ending in July 2008; that's well before the economic problems that result in cutbacks. I'm amused at people who think this is an outrageous sum for the leader of a $310 million revenue organization; especially one that has made such visible improvements during his tenure. Without innovations described in other comments, the Met would be much worse off and probably have to make more cuts.

He's not even the highest paid at the Met. Levine makes more as a part time music director while getting even more from the BSO. That's not to say he's not worth it, but that puts Gelb's compensation in perspective.

Of course, people don't read the article for perspective. Why read the article when you can make assumptions?

[B. B. Bruckner]

Who didn't read the story, Chris? I certainly did. Don't make assumptions yourself... As much as some Internet commenters seem to like them, the jury's still out on HD operas. One thing is certain: Gelb spent millions on his expensive high profile projects, as an incomptent judge of singers he chose to discriminate them on the basis of who's attractive for his HD cameras locking many great voices out of the Met, and had to endure a long, shameful string of cancellations from the expensive stars he bet all that money on. He's a genius as far as "buzz" is involved, and he has many sycophants in the press and even in the blogs (some of them).

His results? Zimmerman's immortal works, Villazon's pitiful cancellations, and a lot of debt. That's Gelb's era for you. No art, millions of debt, empty "buzz". He may very well be the man who puts the Met out of business with his reckless spending, and some people still think we need to thank him. Unbelievable.

[Miguel]

I bet the unions have printed a few copies of this Bloomberg story...

[La Veggente]

To say that Gelb is a genius is so far from the truth that it is just sad.He is a fraud. But, he has many sycophants that work for him, off and on the blogs and they dimish themselves by their lack of objectivity. If those voices moved their heads instead of their fingers, they might have better jobs within.
To act like he is a messiah when he has misspent money is bizarre but not surprising. If Gelb has
"brightened our opera lives" then wow, life is sad indeed. He cannot spend like a madman, give himself a raise( hoping no one will find out) and then offer to take a pay cut. Daddy's boy couldn't be pushed out of Sony fast enough- trust me.
Other blogs are getting tiring and hysterical. At least this one is more sober.
La Veggente

[Tuesday]

Gelb destroyed Sony Classical with
his obsession for crossover, then he
mortgaged the Met's future on his
obsession for costly HD star vehicles
of no artistic relevance and now has
to deal with huge debts. He only
deserves a huge paycheck if you
think failure, not accomplishment,
must be rewarded financially.

[Furst]

@KEY4MVP

You're very very RED Sox are showing.

@La Veggente

Generally 1.5 for the manager of the Met seems eminantely reasonable and he has raised attendance significantly. That is an important criteria but we are afraid we must associate ourselves with your position and are at a loss to express a great deal of enthusiasm for some of the repertory and casting choices.

[Laurie]

Kevin Edmund Youkilis 4 MVP -- whoever you are: Thank you for that!

[vale]

Shame on you Gelb!!!!!!!!!! You're up there with the worst of them!

[Bridget]

I know people who make that much and all they do is stare at a computer, push a few buttons and lose millions of dollars of "other people's money". everything is relevant (especially in NY)!

[dino]

How much does a singer such as Marcello Giordani earn when he sings in an opera at the Met ?

[Bob]

The arguement left on this site regarding the disparity between Levine and Gelb's salary fails. Levine is a talent, Gelb is a manager of a non-profit organization. Levine is a long term employee of the company with over 30 years under his belt, Gelb has been there three. While Gelb has added the HD and Sirius programs, he has also alientated patrons and subscription holders. Their donations and suabscriptions for the 2009-10 season are dramatically down. Gelb is reviled by the staff, especially those with long experience at the MET. Perhaps Gelb should forgo his entire pay raise, as Placido Domingo did in both Washington and LA, he is earning an excessively high salary for one who leads a "not-for-profit" organization, even without the raise. His lack of understanding in imposing a pay cut on his staff while still pocketing a 26% pay increase will not bode well for him.