“When I came to the Met, it was the most attractive job in the country,” Noyes said. Joel Noyes, assistant principal cello of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, spoke to the New York Post about management’s hard-line position. For its part, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) has offered to “work together” with management, and has “made a comprehensive proposal that provides substantial savings.” Altogether 1,000 Met employees have been on unpaid furlough since March. The Met is seeking to reopen contracts with orchestra musicians and members of the chorus in order to impose permanent cuts. Management demanded pay cuts of 30 percent in a five-year contract, of which only one half of that will be restored once the Met’s box office receipts recover. As of December 14, the Met locked out its stagehands. The case of the Metropolitan Opera is particularly egregious.Īs a result, one-third of orchestra members have been forced to relocate out of the New York area due to the high cost of living.Īll support personnel at the Met are the targets of attack by management. The Metropolitan Opera, like many other major cultural institutions, is using the pandemic as a wedge to effect a permanent reduction of compensation to musicians, performers and other support personnel. At the same time, it is the only top US orchestra that has not paid or given significant financial assistance to its musicians during the pandemic. The New Year’s Eve gala was the fourth time in 2020 that the Met used outside musicians. This year the Met snubbed its musicians, who have not been paid since March, when the pandemic first hit. The Met’s New Year’s Eve gala is a regular fundraising event where wealthy donors are feted with a selection of operatic arias and ensembles by top performers. In a further escalation of its attacks on its orchestra musicians, the Metropolitan Opera hired outside replacements for its annual New Year’s Eve gala, this year held in Berlin.