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| The initiatives are meant to put the 135-year-old organisation on stronger financial footing by offsetting declines in the audience that remembers Pearl Harbor and the JFK shooting with one whose seminal experiences were 9/11 and the financial crisis. — AFP Photo |
Viet Nam News
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Opera is digging deep into its bag of tricks as it attempts to lure in younger generations more familiar with Mozart in the Jungle than its long-dead inspiration.
At a Fridays Under 40 party earlier this month, young opera prospects, some donning tuxedos and gowns, took selfies with cast extras and mingled over wine and cheese in a space set below one of the Met’s signature Marc Chagall murals.
Others gathered on a terrace overseeing Lincoln Center as an anticipatory buzz built ahead of an opulently-staged performance of Samson et Dalila moments later.
The parties, 10 in all throughout the season and offered at a discounted ticket price for a performance, are part of the Met’s efforts to reposition itself as it rethinks its artistic vision under a new music director.
The initiatives are meant to put the 135-year-old organisation on stronger financial footing by effectively offsetting inevitable declines in the audience that remembers Pearl Harbor and the JFK shooting with one whose seminal experiences were 9/11 and the financial crisis.
Ticket sales are stable, but well below the standards of opera’s golden era in the last century. In the 2017-8 season, the house sold 67 per cent of seats out of total revenue capacity, the same as the prior season, according to Met data. — AFP
