Met Gets Donation for Broadcasts
The Annenberg Foundation is giving $3.5 million, roughly one-half of the costs of one year’s Saturday Afternoon broadcasts, to the Metropolitan Opera, hoping that this money will encourage other organizations to help sponsor them.
Met Opera broadcasts began in 1931 and since 1940, they have been sponsored by Texaco, which was recently bought by Chevron. Since the oil company will not continue its radio sponsorship after the 2003-04 season, a new sponsor must found for the future.
Currently, each Met broadcast reaches 10 million listeners in 42 countries. Great Britain is the country with the highest percentage of its population regularly listening to opera on the radio.
www.nytimes.com
A Marketing Lesson
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra programmed a concert consisting of: Act I of Die Walkuere, “The Ride of the Valkyries,” and the “Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde. They engaged top ranking soloists, including Cheryl Studer, Mark Baker and Eric Halfvarson, but their Marketing Department did not mention the singers in its print and radio advertising.
The singers’ names were on the website, but many Wagner fans did not know that such choice fare was at their disposal and Powell Symphony Hall had close to 400 empty seats for each of the two performances.
www.stltoday.com
Kiri, Get Your Gun!
When Dame Kiri Te Kanawa checked into the four-star “Holiday Inn Theatreland” in Glasgow, Scotland, a city known currently as the murder capital of Britain, she asked about storing her guns. The Hotel has no such facilities, so the clerk called the local police and asked them to handle the situation.
After a bit of excitement during which the singer’s permits were checked and officials determined that she was well within her rights, Te Kanawa’s guns were stored at the police station until she was ready to use them legally for hunting.
It seems that the diva often goes on hunting trips with Prince Phillip and Prince Charles.
www.theherald.co.uk
More Opera for Maine
PORT Opera of Portland, Maine, now in its tenth year, expects to expand its budget so that it can eventually present two or three shows per season instead of its usual single production, according to new Artistic Director Dona D. Vaughn.
The company also has a full time general manager for the first time. Kippy Rudy, well known as a fundraiser in New England, is expected to bring in the money needed to finance the company’s expansion.
www.pressherald.com
Boosey and Hawkes to Continue its Role
Boosey and Hawkes, which publishes the music of Stravinsky, Prokofief and Rachmaninov, among others, has been bought by Hg Capital, assuring its continuation as an independent company.
While this news probably comes as a welcome relief to contemporary composers like Ned Rorem and Domenic Argento, for undiscovered composers it is even more important because, at least for the time being, there are several places where they can try to get their music published.
The company came up for sale when serious accounting discrepancies were discovered and the price of its shares dropped precipitously.
www.guardian.co.uk
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Deficit Less than Expected
The deficit for the Milwaukee Symphony had been projected at close to $2.5 million, but Acting Executive Director Deborah Patel reports that current figures show the actual loss to be closer to $875,000.
Much of this achievement is due to reductions in pay, the elimination of some office positions, the shortening of the orchestra’s season, a benefit concert and increased donations.
www.jsonline.com
$10 Million Bequest to San Diego Opera
When Joan Kroc, heiress to the McDonald’s fortune, died in October, she bequeathed $10 million to San Diego Opera, the largest donation the 38-year-old-opera company has ever received. The money will be added to the “Joan Kroc Production Fund,” which she established in 1997 with a gift of $1 million.
In gratitude, the company will dedicate its 2005 season to her memory, and thereafter, honor her with one opera per year.
www.nbcsandiego.com
Met to Take Winter Break
The Metropolitan Opera has announced that beginning with the 2004-2005 season the company will take a mid-season break each year. Next season will begin Sept. 20 and close during the weeks of Jan. 10-23. The house will then reopen with four performances, beginning the week of Jan 24, and continue until closing night, May 22.
General Manager Joseph Volpe also said that he would like to replace the Monday evening performances with Sunday matinees, but if that happens it will be sometime well into the future.
Actor’s Equity Campaigning Against Non-union Tours
The Actor’s Equity Association has committed $1.6 million towards a campaign to unionize touring companies of Broadway shows. Right now, 40 percent of touring companies are non-union, but advertise their shows as Broadway quality.
They often charge the same prices as union companies but pay their artists and other workers as little as one-third the union wage, a fact of which audiences are largely unaware.
www.backstage.com
Opera San Jose Looks for Help from City
Because of slow ticket sales and a $1.4-million increase in expenses, Opera San Jose is asking the city to help with the company’s move from the 515-seat Montgomery Theater to the 1,100-seat California Fox Theater, which also has a much larger stage that will require reworked sets.
General Director Irene Dalis is not asking for more money than she received last year, only that the opera’s share of the city’s resources not be cut. Of course, she is also asking donors to help, because next year’s budget will be $4.3 million, a considerable increase over the current $2.9 million.
www.bayarea.com Click on Mercury News
South African Businessman Gives Millions to the Arts
Donald Gordon is celebrating his dual South African and British citizenship by giving 10 million pounds each to the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and the Wales Millennium Center, which will become the home of Welch National Opera next year. He has also given sizeable donations to arts institutions in South Africa.
His intention in making all these gifts is to encourage cooperation between British and South African opera and ballet companies. He hopes that working together and sharing resources will help lift the level of artistic endeavor in South Africa. He also urges other donors to follow his lead.
When asked about his gifts by reporters, Mr. Gordon said he wants to make arts philanthropy his retirement occupation. He continued by saying that he prefers to give the bulk of his money away while he can see it at work and before estate taxes get a large portion of it.
www.guardian.co.uk
Theater to Be Rebuilt in Bari, Italy
The 4,000-seat Teatro Petruzzelli, which was destroyed by fire in 1991, is to be rebuilt this year. When completed it will be the fourth largest opera house in Italy.
Before the fire, this theater was often the background for films because of its lavish decorations, but it has taken the Italian Parliament and a few private sources some 12 years to raise the 31 million Euros needed to rebuild it.
www.studiocirillo.com/416/web/416/htm
