Union members have frequently cited what they call the Met's 'extreme waste,'' including the $169,000 cost to build a poppy field in this year's $4.3 million production of Borodin's 'Prince Igor'' and Gelb's insistence on special spotlights on singers in 25 productions that cost $466,152, according to Carvin. 'We're not saying you can't do the grand lavish productions, but how about maybe instead of doing six, how about you do five,' said Joseph Hartnett with the IATSE union. They say they're bearing the brunt of his decisions.

The artists contend that their doubled income is due to Gelb's insistence on staging expensive new productions that got bad reviews but required a lot of overtime and technical challenges, such as Wagner's 'Ring'' cycle. 'The difficult part for me is that, it's not that I want to cut their wages, I have to for the Met to survive,' said Gelb. Gelb says the salaries of union members represent about two-thirds of company costs and that's where cuts should be made to balance shrinking ticket sales, a depleted endowment and rising operating costs.

The Met's operating costs have swelled by an estimated $100 million in the last eight years as they've expanded their reach globally. Gelb has demanded that the unions accept salary cuts of about 17 percent, to cover a deficit of $2.8 million in the Met's $326 million annual budget.īut unions representing about 2,500 chorus singers, orchestra musicians, stagehands, carpenters and others say they'll lose as much as 30 percent of their income through additional pension cuts and higher health care costs.

Met opera musicians