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Metropolitan Opera Survives a Brutal Fiscal Year

Culture Chronicle

Metropolitan Opera Reports 2009 Fiscal Woes
Crain's New York Business - June 17, 2010
©Copyright 2010 Associated Press

The opera house's net assets dropped by almost $150 million from a year earlier while expenses kept climbing, according to tax returns filed this week.

(AP) - The Metropolitan Opera survived a brutal fiscal year in 2009, losing tens of millions of dollars on Wall Street while expenses kept climbing, according to tax returns filed this week.

The company finished the year with its net worth down substantially and sizable debts looming in coming years. In financial statements, filed on Monday, the opera house listed net assets of $236 million, down from $380 million a year earlier.

Like many major arts organizations, the Met has been struggling to maintain artistic quality and innovation while riding an economic roller coaster.

"Since the costs of running the world's biggest opera house have always been greater than its earned revenues, the Met has regularly faced enormous financial challenges throughout its history," General Manager Peter Gelb told The Associated Press.

In the first year of the recession, 2008, a company counting on good investment returns didn't get them. The Met wound up scrambling for operating money just as lavish new productions were being staged under the new leadership of Mr. Gelb, who became general manager in 2006.

Despite the gloomy financial picture, the company spent more in its 2009 fiscal year than it had a year earlier. Salaries rose by more than $6 million. For the full article, click here

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