Metropolitan Opera to cut jobs, reduce executive pay and scale back programming

New York’s Metropolitan Opera has announced a round of layoffs, pay cuts and reductions to its programming as it confronts financial strain left over from the Covid pandemic. The measures include salary reductions of between 4% and 15% for 35 executives earning more than $150,000, including the Met’s general manager Peter Gelb, who earned approximately $1.4m in 2024, the New York Times reported.

Other senior figures affected include music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who earned $2.05m in the most recently disclosed fiscal year. The company said there will also be 22 layoffs among its 284 administrative staff. Next season will be cut from 18 productions to 17, and the Met is postponing a planned staging of Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina.

A spokesperson for the Met confirmed the cuts to the Guardian, saying: "These staff reductions, combined with some temporary salary reductions and other cost-cutting measures, will reduce the Met’s expenses by $15m for the remaining six months of the Met’s fiscal year, and by another $25m in the Met’s following fiscal year." The moves follow a tentative agreement struck last September with Saudi Arabia, valued at about $200m, that would see the company perform each winter for five years at the Royal Diriyah Opera House near Riyadh in return for Saudi subsidies.

Speaking to the New York Times, Gelb said the cuts were prompted in part by delays and uncertainty surrounding the Saudi agreement: "I’ve been assured that it’s going to go forward.

Key Topics

Culture, Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb, Yannick Nézet-séguin, Diriyah Opera House, Saudi Arabia