{"id":13759,"date":"2024-06-17T23:17:21","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T23:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/?p=13759"},"modified":"2024-06-17T23:17:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T23:17:21","slug":"met-operas-programming-strategy-not-paying-off-theyd-hoped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/2024\/06\/17\/met-operas-programming-strategy-not-paying-off-theyd-hoped\/","title":{"rendered":"Met Opera\u2019s Programming Strategy Not Paying Off As They\u2019d Hoped"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_11973\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11973\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11973\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/09\/MET-OPERA.jpg\" alt=\"Met Opera\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/09\/MET-OPERA.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/09\/MET-OPERA-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/09\/MET-OPERA-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/09\/MET-OPERA-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11973\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo: Jonathan Tichler \/ Met Opera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In an effort to recuperate from pandemic-related funding challenges, the Metropolitan Opera has been programming contemporary works to attract fresh audiences. But the new works aren\u2019t drawing the crowds the organization hoped for.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Driving the news:<\/strong> Over the last few years, Metropolitan Opera general director Peter Gelb has been programming contemporary operas at the Met in hopes of attracting newer, more diverse audiences. A third of the Met\u2019s repertory now comprises 21st century operas, such as Anthony Davis\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metopera.org\/season\/2023-24-season\/x-the-life-and-times-of-malcolm-x\">\u201cX: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,\u201d<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metopera.org\/season\/2023-24-season\/fire-shut-up-in-my-bones\/\">Terence Blanchard\u2019s \u201cFire Shut Up in My Bones\u201d<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metopera.org\/season\/2023-24-season\/the-hours\/\">Kevin Puts\u2019s \u201cThe Hours<\/a>.\u201d But unfortunately, this gamble hasn\u2019t paid off. The opera house, which has 4,000 seats, averages only around 72% full. The contemporary works average houses that are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/14\/arts\/music\/metropolitan-opera-season.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare&amp;sgrp=c-cb\">a third empty.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Get up to speed:<\/strong> The Metropolitan Opera is the largest performing arts institution in the United States. It has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metopera.org\/about\/annual-reports\/\">a budget of $300 Million USD<\/a>. But since the pandemic, it has withdrawn <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/25\/arts\/music\/met-opera-endowment-finances.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare\">nearly $40 Million from its endowment.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Yet things are looking up for the organization. Gelb\u2019s bet on presenting new works has resulted in younger audiences, with average ticket buyers&#8217; age <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/25\/arts\/music\/met-opera-endowment-finances.html\">now 44 rather than 50<\/a>, as it was in 2019. Audiences have slowly returned, and the Met\u2019s modern operas have received some of this seasons\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/24\/arts\/music\/review-john-adams-el-nino-met-opera.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare\">most glowing reviews.<\/a> Let\u2019s wait and see if the tides turn for these innovative works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an effort to recuperate from pandemic-related funding challenges, the Metropolitan Opera has been programming contemporary works to attract fresh audiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":11973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[360,3,80],"tags":[81],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/09\/MET-OPERA.jpg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13760,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13759\/revisions\/13760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13759"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=13759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}