Placido Domingo’s Companies Cut Staff, Take Emergency Loans

[FarCenter]

By Philip Boroff

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Two opera companies led by superstar tenor Placido Domingo have run into financial trouble, as the Washington National Opera cut productions and the Los Angeles Opera received an emergency loan.

On Tuesday, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to guarantee a $14 million loan to the opera from a division of Bank of America Corp., said Zev Yaroslavsky, an L.A. County Supervisor. The money, secured by a 10-year lease on the 3,197- seat Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, is expected to keep the company running through June 2012 as it waits for $30 million in pledged donations.

“If we didn’t get this, the opera would go into a tailspin,” Yaroslavksy said in an interview. “This has been a bad year for everybody.”

On Nov. 30, the Washington Opera said it will reduce the number of full productions next season to five, down from seven in 2008-09. The company also dismissed eight people and eliminated jobs in marketing, finance and administration. For those remaining, it froze salaries and suspended contributions to individual retirement accounts.

“I don’t think this is a reflection of our general director at all,” Kenneth R. Feinberg, the president of the Washington National Opera and the Obama administration’s “pay czar,” said in an interview. “The fact is that all cultural institutions are suffering financially.”

<SNIP>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a0EUjlQtatcY

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LA loans $14 million to the opera! Are they nuts?

[Missy Vixen]

1. It keeps hundreds of people in jobs

I should also mention that the arts are important, recession or no. They're proven to drive tourism, among other industries.

[FarCenter]

2. Disneyland drives tourism:. Opera? Not so much.

[Missy Vixen]

13. Maybe you should visit Seattle

People come from all over the world to see "The Ring", for instance. I know there are people who travel to see productions in different places around the US and Europe.

For those who don't wish to travel, the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera's productions are shown at multiplexes around the country.

I should also mention there are studies proving that the arts drive tourism around the country. You might want to check into one of Patrick Overton's books.

[CTyankee]

3. Unfortunately, operas are hugely expensive to run.

Don't get me wrong...I am an opera buff myself, mostly Puccini my fave...

[vadawg]

7. gotta say never got into opera what so ever, would rather spend the money on some sports..

but i guess everyone has their own causes..

[CTyankee]

9. I can't handle the Wagnerian operas but Italian operas are fun.

You probably know your Puccini because so many of his pretty melodies are in TV commercials! And if you ever heard the 3 tenors you heard "Nessun Dorma" which even Aretha Franklin has sung (the less said about that the better!). It's the one with the big finish "Vincero! Vincero! Vincero! (I will win...). Gorgeous music...

[vadawg]

11. yeah i know the music, and the music is phenom but im just not into going to see them

for me i just cant see its worth all that money to keep the companies open, but as i said to keep them open is someone elses cause.. its strange the stuff that mankind globs onto...

[Missy Vixen]

15. Yeah, the arts. Who the hell needs them?

>i just cant see its worth all that money to keep the companies open<

Maybe I don't care for the things you find valuable. Let's shut them down.

:eyes:

[CTyankee]

17. Well, in all fairness I must say you have to be a little nutty to love opera the way I do.

I know you are being supportive and so am I. These Italian operas are something that I just love about Italy and it's my thing.

Yes, of course, we need the arts. Someone once said that art always saves you and I believe that to be true. I know it has had that effect on me...

[vadawg]

18. yeah no problem if they are not financially viable, i wouldnt expect you to have to pick up the tab

thats the whole point, why should one person have to pay for someone elses hobby.... especially when its a hobby or interest that costs so much per person who takes an interest...

[Romulox]

26. "The arts" encompass a lot more than opera. What makes your favorite art form so special

that it deserves so much taxpayer money? :shrug:

[FarCenter]

4. Ticket income doesn't come close to covering costs

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/12/los-angeles-opera-gets-14-million-loan-bailout-from-la-county-to-avoid-a-fiscal-gotterdammerung.html

The nonprofit opera company’s most recent available tax return, for the year ending June 30, 2008, shows that it already was experiencing difficulties before the economic meltdown that arrived that September, striking a blow to many arts organizations that rely on donated funds. To float the opera that year, its board members provided $19.6 million in interest-free loans, of which $5 million was forgiven. Ticket sales came to $18.2 million, just a fraction of the company’s $55.6 million budget. The opera filled the gap with $40.7 million in donations. In 2006-07, fund-raising had fallen far short, leading to a deficit of nearly $6 million.

Antonovich said the opera had brought financial difficulties on itself by plunging $32 million into its production of the "Ring" Cycle by German director Achim Freyer, which included performances earlier this year three of the four operas, to be followed by the intensive festival performances, in which aficionados can see the entire "Ring" Cycle within a week. The opera's general director, Plácido Domingo, is singing the role of Siegmund in "Die Walküre," the second opera of the cycle.

“Many feel it’s going to be a loser, basically because of the person who is being honored,” Antonovich said, referring to Wagner.

Announced in November 2008, the 10-week "Ring" festival, April 15 to June 30, 2010, aims at involving some 100 arts organizations throughout the region, with L.A. Opera’s production at its hub. Arts philanthropist Eli Broad provided a $6 million gift from his foundation to underwrite the opera production. The hope is that it will be an international event and tourist draw for L.A.

[stopbush]

5. Performing arts companies generally earn 50% of their income from tix sales,

50% from donations from philanthropists.

Every $1 spent on the arts generates $1.87 in ancillary revenue. The arts are a good investment.

As far as this particular situation - Domingo has a history of running up huge debts at these two companies. Both would do better to find new leadership, IMO.

BTW - in 2008, Domingo was paid $700,000 as Director of LA Opera. Music Director James Conlon was paid $917,000. Its operating budget for 2008 was $55MM.

[FarCenter]

6. If Placido sings Siegmund, does he get to double-dip?

[stopbush]

20. I don't know what is arrangement is these days.

In 2006, he was paid $450,000 as Director and an additional $100,000 for performances. It might all be wrapped up in a single ball these days, which is better for Domingo as he cancels a lot of performances.

[Missy Vixen]

14. I'm not sure what the problem is with LA's "Ring"

Seattle's is sold out months in advance, and has been for many years now.

[LeftHander]

8. Placido Phamaceuticals stock down...

and the ED pill "Crescendo" not selling...

[Romulox]

10. Why can't the wealthy pay for their own preferred form of entertainment?

LA County can't keep its streets safe or its people educated. Why in hell is it in the opera business? :eyes:

[Missy Vixen]

16. I'm not wealthy, and I've been to the opera

It's always interesting to me that those who have little to no information or personal experience about art such as opera, ballet, or symphonies are quick to dismiss it without even an experience. I might also add that not everyone in the seats at any performance are wealthy, either. Then again, people here bitch about the dumbing down of entertainment; maybe you'll all get your wish, and we'll be treated to transcendental works such as Fergie's "My Humps" instead.

Most opera companies have a "student production" or some other less-expensive alternative to Opening Night. It's also possible to see an opera via simulcast at a movie theater. Try something lighter; you may be pleasantly surprised.

[CTyankee]

19. We have some really nice stuff here in New Haven. The Yale School of Music has an opera

every year and many, many performances at Sprague Hall during the year.

I think you have great opera and great music in L.A. My daughter lives in Burbank and I love reading about all the arts there. It's usually only the museums we go to when I am there, tho...I actually changed plans for a visit in 2008 so I could see the Bernini sculptures at the Getty...I had never seen his "Costanza" in person. And there she was, straight from the Bargello in Florence...but I would also love to get into the music. I see that I missed by a few days the 3 part Puccini opera that includes "Gianna Schicchi" last year, unfortunately. Because it is a one-act it is often not performed.

[Romulox]

23. I go to a lot of (unsubsidized) concerts. My ticket price has to pay the actual costs of operation.

Why is *your* preferred form of art more deserving of subsidy than *mine*?

"It's always interesting to me that those who have little to no information or personal experience about art such as opera, ballet, or symphonies are quick to dismiss it without even an experience."

And it's always ironic when someone make a statement about "little to no information" based on...little to no information. I've been to the opera. I've been to the ballet. And I played in a symphony for some time.

I still don't understand why I should subsidize opera. :shrug:

[stopbush]

21. The wealthy do pay for the arts and opera.

They do so by donating millions of dollars to the arts. Their donations help to underwrite every seat in the house, especially the cheap seats.

There would be no cheap seats at arts performances were it not for the wealthy.

Perhaps LA's streets would be safer and people would be better educated if they had more contact with the arts. The arts speak to man's aspirations, and along with science, they represent mans greatest achievements as a species.

BTW - did you know that over half of the population of the USA attends an arts performance/exhibit each year. You know how many people attend sporting events? It's something like 17%. So I ask you- what form of entertainment is the elitist form of entertainment? Why in the hell are professional sports in business when cities have to give them sweetheart deals to build their arenas, tax breaks for decades and the freedom to pay a bunch of over-priced adolescents hundreds of millions of dollars for their ability to play with a ball?

[Romulox]

22. They demonstrably do not pay the operating costs of their preferred form of entertainment.

Nor is "opera" the equivalent of "the arts"--the opera is no more a valid expression of "the arts" than say doo wop. Does LA County spend millions subsidizing doo wop performances each year? No? Odd...

"BTW - did you know that over half of the population of the USA attends an arts performance/exhibit each year. "

The percentage that visit the opera is in the single digits, I'd wager.

[stopbush]

27. Do sports fans pay the "operating costs" of professional teams

whose stadiums are built with taxpayer funds and enhanced with 30-year no-property-tax boondoggles from local politicians? Do those attending high school and college games "pay the operating expenses" of the teams they're watching? There are expenses associated with putting on any entertainment that aren't covered by the price of the ticket, underwritten by a source other than the actual presenting organization.

How about when you go to see a small-budget film that doesn't gross enough to cover the expenses of the local theater?

Perhaps you're proposing that unless any entertainment can pay for its entire expenses it shouldn't exist.

As far as the figures for who goes to opera in the USA:
• 5-million adults attended at least one opera performance in 2008-9
• 11-million adults listened to or viewed an opera performance through the media in 2008-9

Source: Opera America (more here: http://www.operaamerica.org/content/research/quick0809.aspx )

Is that chicken scratch? You tell me.

[Romulox]

30. That's a red herring argument. I'm not going to defend that practice, either..

"Perhaps you're proposing that unless any entertainment can pay for its entire expenses it shouldn't exist."

"Any" and "all" arguments are for suckers and fools. I am specifically arguing that opera is not culturally significant enough to justify a large outlay of taxpayer cash.

[stopbush]

34. Oh. Well, that's another story. Your argument is specious.

Case closed.

[amborin]

28. surely you're not serious! many many are not wealthy but love opera

[Romulox]

31. Of course I am. Opera is an elitist past time that demonstrably does not have broad support.

Thus the hat firmly lodged in hand...

[amborin]

33. well

i disagree strongly

in europe, for example, the working classes are big opera fans

it is not an elitist past time

whatever happened to live and let live?

do you support massive govt subsidies for sports arenas?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. I've never made much money, and I go to the opera when I can afford it

It's not just rich people in furs and diamonds. It's also music lovers in the upper balconies or the standing room area.

[Shagbark Hickory]

12. It's just too expensive to live and do business in California. It seems like evidence of this is

coming in the form of depressing news releases on a daily basis.

[amborin]

25. it's not just california...the US is in the minority in not supporting the arts

[Shagbark Hickory]

32. Hard to support the arts when you've got to pay a morgage on a 3br/2ba home you paid a million $ for

[amborin]

24. ballet companies are suffering, too

[mitchum]

29. The vanishing of middlebrow aspirations in America...

contrast Dick and Pat Nixon spending an evening at the opera ("because it's good for you")
with Sarah and Todd killing animals in a meth-fueled frenzy.
Today the knuckledraggers celebrate their ability to drag their knuckles.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. You're so right: Somehow building a stadium for a billionaire team owners

who could finance said stadium with a week's earnings is considered a civic investment, while funding a performance space for artists, most of whom earn no more than a middle-class income (I'm talking about the orchestra players and non-superstar singers and actors) but are doing what they love and what their audiences love is considered extravagant.

There's nothing inherently "highbrow" about opera or live theater or dance. When I worked with street kids in Portland, the Portland Opera used to give free tickets to the dress rehearsals to the agency I volunteered for, and there were always five or six kids who looked forward to going. There's an acting troupe in the Twin Cities that performs Shakespeare in prisons, homeless shelters, and other such institutions and holds discussions afterward. They say that these audiences really GET Shakespeare and are eager to discuss the issues.

But our mass media are determined to dumb us down, to make us think that it's "elitist" to like classical music or foreign films or ballet, or that it's "gay" for men to be interested in anything but work and sports.

This is a kind of brainwashing. The aim is to coarsen our tastes and make us impatient with anything that requires thinking and contemplation or that reaches deep into our psyches.

If you have read Alduous Huxley's Brave New World, you'll know what I mean when I say that the MSM are trying to turn us all into Epsilons.